Characterisation And Production Performance Of Indigenous Chickens In Northern Namibia Regions

ABSTRACT

CHARACTERIZATION AND PRODUCTION PERFORMANCE OF INDIGENOUS CHICKENS IN NORTHERN NAMIBIA REGIONS

Farmers in all the studied regions regard poultry production as their primary source of domestic animal protein, with the domestic fowl being the most widely kept poultry species. Other uses are participation in socio - cultural ceremonies, selling for money and gifts. The extensive system of management is the most frequent. This system requires minimal costs, but mortalities due to disease and predation are very high, and chicken production is low and irregular. The study confirmed the use of local knowledge by some farmers (13.7%) in treating diseases. However, about (64%) of the interviewed rural farmers did not treat their chickens.

Numbers of birds per household in the entire region visited ranged from ten to fifteen per household. The adult body weights of females were found to range from 0.95 - 1.25 kg and adult males between 1.5- 2.0 kg. Scavenging system was the mode of feeding although birds were also supplemented with unknown quantities of pearl millet and it done ones. Rudimentary housing was available for indigenous chickens in 78% of the total households visited during rainy season only. The external characteristics of indigenous chickens in the four Northern regions showed the absence of autosomal dominant gene (I) that encoded for white plumage colour. Hence the study concluded that white leghorn might not have been introduced in Namibia. The single comb type was the commonest of the comb type observed in the chickens surveyed. 53.9% of the chickens had single comb, while 38.0% and 9.6% had rose and pea combs respectively.

Average heterozygosity in the sub population was 0.0453 for Oshana, 0.1384 for Omusati, 0.0718 for Ohangwena a 0.221 for Kavango and these results indicated high level of inbreeding in the population. Principal component analysis was used to determine the genetic relationship of chickens between and within the four regions. Both scatter plot and phyllogenetic tree formed four major groupings and three sub-groupings with some overlapping. Based on this, the Kavango chickens were separated from the other Northern regions chicken populations. The same was also seen on the comb types where chickens from Kavango exhibited only a single comb type while the rest of the regions had the combinations of rose, pea and single combs.

The experiment on the production performance and growth response of growing indigenous chickens was done for 32 weeks using 3 dietary protein levels. The experimental chickens were offered diets and water ad libitum with high and low protein level whereas the controls were fed on locally- available feed materials. Feed intake and mortality were recorded weekly. Mortality of chicks aged between 1-8 weeks of rearing was (28%), those aged between 9-21 weeks (14.4%) and those aged between 21 -32 weeks (5.6%). There was no significant difference (P>0.05) between body weight of chickens fed on high and those that were fed on low protein diet. However, the body weight of chickens fed on low and high protein were not significantly (P