Characterization of Local Chicken of Trans-boundary region of Jammu & Kashmir (India)

Abstract The study was conducted in the Poonch district of Union territory of Jammu & Kashmir, India with the goal of assessing the qualitative and quantitative traits of indigenous chicken reared under natural production environment. Adult indigenous chicken reared by 55 randomly selected rural households were used for measuring the various qualitative and quantitative traits (n=117).The result showed predominant black plumage (38.46%), solid plumage pattern (75.21%), yellow skin colour (84.62%), yellow shank colour (81.20%), red earlobe colour (94.87%), single comb type (90.60%) and red comb colour (100%) in overall indigenous chicken population in field condition. Overall mean for body weight, body length, shank length, chest circumference and wingspan were1.84 ± 0.05 kg, 37.16± 0.32 cm, 9.33± 0.19 cm, 32.31± 0.30 cm and 35.64± 0.35cm, respectively. The correlations of body weight (BW) with other linear body measurements (BL, SL, CC and WS) were positive and significant (P<0.01). The body length (BL) could be the best predictor of body weight of indigenous chicken in linear nature of responses due to the highest adjusted R 2 value (0.337). The rate of inbreeding was 0.50 % across the studied population. The distinctive variability in these traits is due to both genetic and environmental factors providing the foundation for further characterization of indigenous chicken population.