Characterization of six populations of Myanmar indigenous chickens by body measurement traits

Abstract

This study was conducted to perform phenotypic characterization of four meat-type and two game-type populations of Myanmar indigenous chickens. A total of 114 adult chickens (52 males and 62 females) were measured to evaluate seven body measurement traits. The measurements were subjected to analysis of variance (ANOVA) and correlation coefficient matrix. The ANOVA revealed that sex and population factors were highly significant (p < 0.05) for all body measurement traits. For all traits, males were larger than females. Among the six populations, the indigenous chickens from the Yangon region had the largest body size, but the shortest shank length. There were some differences between the two types of fighting cock collected from different areas. The correlation coefficients of all body measurement traits were positive and significant (p < 0.01) ranging from 0.24 to 0.80. The highest correlations of body weight to other traits were seen in height and toe to back length. The findings of this study could contribute to the better understanding of Myanmar indigenous chickens. In the future, these populations should be kept under the same management and further experiments should be conducted for unbiased results.