Abstract:
Review work was conducted to assess the characterized and conservation methods of indigenous chickens in Ethiopia. In Ethiopia Chickens are the most wide spread and dominant poultry species. Since local chickens have good potential to adapted in different agro-ecology and provide luxurious source of family protein and income to rural poor. However, village chicken is usually kept under free ranging production system. Still those local chickens are non descriptive type and show variations in body position, color, comb type and productivity. Indigenous chickens have characterized as; poor appearance, relatively low productivity, slow growth rate, small adult size and lays small egg. So, they are neglected from researchers, development workers and policy makers to put them in the research and development. To decrease loose of chicken genetic resource, phenotypic and genotypic characterization work were conducted. However, many chickens are lack with information about their geographical distributions and its availability. Many previous reports underlined that the breed characteristics of indigenous chickens are vary in color, comb type, body conformation and weight. High incidences of chicken diseases, mainly (NCD), coccidioses, salmonellae’s fowl pox are the major and economically important constraint for village chicken production system following feeds and predators. Further constraints are poor access to markets, weak institutions, and lack of skills and knowledge which lead to high rate of genetic erosion. According
