considering the agro-ecology, socioeconomic significance of chicken production and population of indigenous chickens based on the atlas published jointly by the International Food Policy Research Institute

Abstract

This study describes the variations in the physical features and the useful attributes of different populations of indigenous chickens. Five populations of chickens in different regions of Balashpur, Mymensingh were studied based on 8 qualitative and quantitative traits recorded for a total of 20 chicken. Each of the study populations possessed multiple variants of plumage colours and other physical features. However, white body plumage is one of the prominent and red is predominant in the populations. Pea comb is the dominant comb type in all regions. Most of the chickens in the high altitude regions have yellow skin. The geographic distribution and frequency of naked neck chickens are generally small, and the available small proportion is found mainly in the low altitude regions. Males in all populations are heavier and taller than the females. Body weights range from 1 kg to 2 kg in adult males and females. Most of the morphological traits that were studied showed a very low level of associations with each other