Phenotypic diversity of two Ethiopian village chicken ecotypes

Village chickens are omnipresent in the sub-Saharan Africa region. They all share common characteristics in spite of displaying high level of within population phenotypic diversity. The main objective of this study was to compare the phenotypes of two Ethiopian chicken ecotypes “Jarso” and “Horro” and to assess the impact of human and environmental pressures in shaping the within and between population morphological diversities. Phenotypic traits (comb type, and shank, earlobe and plumage colour) were recorded from 200 birds’ photographs in each location. One hundred small-holder farmers were also one-to-one interviewed in each location to elicit their preferences for particular phenotypes. Single comb was less frequently observed in Horro cocks (17.9%, n = 15) than in Jarso (40.3%, n = 27; χ= 8.3448; P =, 0.0039). Yellow shank was found in 69.6% of Horro and 55.0% of Jarso chickens (χ= 1.8000; P = 0.1797). Crested head was found in 23.5% of Horro chickens whereas it was rare in Jarso chickens (2.0%) (χ= 18.6154; P <0.0001). The commonly seen red earlobe also varied in frequencies between the two ecotypes (52.8% in Horro versus 29.3% in Jarso, χ= 7.0244; P = 0.0080). Only 2.0% of Horro and 4.0% of Jarso farmers preferred the single comb phenotypes (χ= 0.6667; P = 0.4142). ‘’Red’’ plumage hens and cocks were highly preferred by Horro and Jarso farmers (Red hen 74.7% (Horro) and 73.0% (Jarso), χ= 0.0270; P = 0.8694; ’Red’’ cocks 81.8% (Horro) and 84% (Jarso), χ= 0.0241; P = 0.8766). Therefore, while some phenotypes frequencies show wide variation between ecotypes, farmers preferences for the studied phenotypes are similar in both areas. It suggests that breeding structure and/or environmental factors is shaping the phenotypic diversity of the two ecotypes rather than human selection.