A survey based experiment was conducted from November 2010 to April 2011 in 196 households to assess egg handling and qualities of scavenging chickens reared in highland, midland and lowland agro-ecological zones of Amhara Regional State, Ethiopia. For egg quality determination, among 196 households, 30 of them who keep only local chickens were identified from each agro-ecology from which 588 eggs (196 eggs from each agro-ecology) were collected. The flock size in highland, midland and lowland agro-ecologies was 8.5, 7.4 and 8.4 chickens, respectively. The results indicated that about 95% and 70% of the respondents fumigate day old chicks with smoke and clip tail feathers, respectively. The average age at first egg lay was 6.94, 6.43 and 6.57 months for highland, midland and lowland agro-ecologies, respectively. The survivability of chickens in highland, midland and lowland agro-ecological zones was 55.0%, 61.4% and 55.1%, respectively. On the average 79.1% hatchability, 58.3% chick survivability was found in the study area. The observed values of egg weight, egg length, egg width, yolk height, albumen height and Haugh unit were significantly (p< 0.05) different between the investigated agro-ecologies. Accordingly, all these traits were (p< 0.05) higher in midland than those of highland and lowland agro-ecological zones. Agro-ecology did not affect shape index, shell thickness, yolk width and yolk index values. The respective average egg weight, shell thickness and shape index values were 39.6 g, 0.296 mm and 73.2%. The average values of yolk height, yolk width and Haugh unit were 16.1 mm, 36.8 mm and 73.2, respectively. In conclusion, the midland agro-ecological system appears to favor the survivability and expression of external and internal egg quality traits of scavenging rural chickens.
Key words: Agro-ecological zones; Egg handling; Egg quality traits; Rural households; Scavenging chickens
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