MORPHOLOGICAL EVALUATION OF SEXUAL DIMORPHISM OF INDIGENOUS BREED OF CHICKEN IN SOUTHWEST

Abstract

A study was conducted to assess the morphological evaluation of sexual dimorphism of indigenous chicken. A total of 156 adult local indigenous chickens comprising of 78 cocks and 78 hens reared under extensive management system belong to two breeds (frizzle feather and normal feather) were randomly sampled. The body weight and linear body measurement parameters considered were; shank length (SL), thigh length (THL), wing length (WL), chest girth (CG), neck length (NL) and thigh circumference (THC). Data collected were analyzed using SAS software. Breed had non-significant effect (p>0.05) on body weight and linear body measurement except thigh length, body length and neck length, which were significantly (p<0.05) higher in male. Sexual dimorphism was observed for SL, BL, CG and NL with higher values observed in males. In conclusion, variation in some of the linear body measurement within the genotype and sex could be used as selection criteria for improvement of indigenous breeds of chicken in this region, hence Frizzle feathered chickens observed superior traits compared to normal feathered counterpart in terms of shank length, thigh length, body length chest girth in male.