Uganda chicken genetic resources: I. phenotypic and production characteristics.

The extent of diversity in the indigenous chicken breeds of Uganda was assessed for their potential utilisation in breeding programmes. A total of 293 indigenous-chicken-keeping households in villages across 35 districts forming 12 sub-regions of the four regions were randomly sampled for 586 mature chickens of both sexes. While only 20.8% of households were headed by women, 40.6% of indigenous chicken keepers were women. The production objectives mainly focused on chickens as sources of income from sales and household food. The chickens were predominantly managed in a scavenging (94.2%) feeding system in a mainly (96.9%) mixed crop-livestock system. The average flock size was 19.80 ± 1.21 chickens with 3.83 ± 0.29 laying hens, each producing an average of 13.41 ± 0.20 eggs/clutch and 40.3 ± 0.6 eggs/annum of 5.20 ± 0.03-month egg production age. Normal-feather strains predominated (>90%), with scattered incidences of naked neck, frizzles, polydactyl, and ptilopody traits in both sexes. Dark (49.0% hen; 43.8% cock) and white (38.3% hen; 42.4% cock) skin colours were most common among the chickens compared to yellow skin. However, yellow-coloured shanks were proportionally the most observed (41% cock; 29% hen). Orange and brown iris (eye) colours were the most common in both sexes. The hens commonly had small round earlobes with varying colours, while cocks had large oval-shaped, mainly red (70%) earlobes. The single-comb type was dominant in both sexes, with wattles almost universally present. Frizzle and polydactyl allele frequencies were significantly lower (