Phenotypic and morphobiometric characterization of local chicken (Gallus gallus) in family breeding on the outskirts of Lubumbashi, Democratic Republic of Congo

Abstract

This study, with a main goal to characterise the local chicken at phenotypic and morphobiometric level, was conducted from September 2019 to January 2020 in three outlying districts of Lubumbashi city in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). A total of 116 adult females and 64 adult males were photographed, described, and measured individually. The main results indicated that the phenotypic traits of the local chicken studied were very heterogeneous. Indeed, four main types of feather distribution were observed – normal feathering (80.56%), crested head (17.22%), naked-neck (1.67%), and feathered shank (0.56%). For feather morphology, normal plumage (98.33%) dominated frizzled plumage (1.67%). Plumage colouring varied with the predominance of black (15.00%), millefiori (10.56%), salmon pink (9.44%), and fawn (8.89%) colours. The single comb was the most common (96.67%) having usually the red (51.67%) or pink (35.56%) colour. The colour of wattles was dominated by red (58.89%) followed by pink (33.89%), while the predominant earlobe colour was red (32.78%) followed by red-white (23.33%) and white (21.67%). Among the eye colours, orange-red predominated (73.33%) followed by dark-brown (11.11%) and yellow-brown (9.44%). Most of the birds were having white skin colour (56.67%) followed by pink (22.22%) and yellow (21.11%). The shank colour was predominantly white (34.44%) followed by yellow (23.89%), grey (19.44%), black (16.67%), and green (5.56%). Regarding morphobiometric traits, the average live body weight of the local peri-urban chicken of Lubumbashi was 1.25 ± 0.52 kg in males and 1.06 ± 0.29 kg in females. Body weight and other body measurements vary significantly (p<0.001) depending on sex and in favour of males. Body weight was strongly and significantly correlated with shank circumference and chest circumference with a coefficient of 0.86 and 0.80, respectively.