Phenotypic Characterization of Indigenous Chicken, Daohaita in Chirang District of Assam, India

Abstract

Aims: The study was conducted to assess the morphological characteristics of indigenous Daohaita chicken in Chirang district of Assam. Place and Duration of Study: The study was carried out in three villages viz., Subhaijhar, Shantipur, and Bengtol under Sidli block of Chirang district as these villages have sizeable population of Daohaita birds. The observations on morphological characteristics were collected from the study areas during August, 2023 to April, 2024. Methodology: Data on 210 Daohaita chicken were utilized to study the traits like skin colour, plumage colour, comb type, comb colour, earlobe colour, shank colour, wattles type, wattles colour, eye colour and egg shell colour. The selected areas were visited to collect information on the phenotypic characteristics based on visual appraisal of the appearance of the Daohaita chicken from a total of 210 individual chickens. The data obtained from the present study were analyzed by adopting the method given by Snedecor and Cochran (1994). Results: The study revealed that 82% of the birds had pinkish skin and 18% had creamy white skin. The highest plumage colour birds were multi-coloured (40%) followed by soild brown (27%) and white with brown or orange (14%). The comb type of Daohaita was predominantly single combed. Most common comb colour was bright red (62%), followed by reddish (38%). Reddish white (43%) earlobes were most common, followed by Red (34%) and white (23%). The most prominent shank colour was white (65%), followed by yellow (20%), brown (8%) and grey (7%). Daohaita birds have small wattles (87%) which are red in colour. The yellow colour eye (62%) was most frequently observed than pearl colour (30%) and brown colour eyes (8%). Most of the hen lay creamy white shelled egg (75%) followed by white (15%) and light brown (10%). Conclusion: Future research should focus on the genetic basis of these qualitative traits, their impact on performance, and strategies for sustainable improvement.