Vol. 11, Special Issue 4 (2022)

Author(s):
Shivappa Nayaka HB, Jayanaik, S Wilfred Ruban, HC Indresh, HD Narayanaswamy and MH Shankara

Abstract:
The present study was carried out to document the phenotypic characteristics viz., plumage colour, pattern, skin colour, ear lobe colour and eye colour in indigenous chicken under filed condition in Bengaluru division (Tumkur, Chitradurga, Davanagere and Shimogga) of Karnataka. A total of 349 Cocks and 385 Hens were considered for recording the phenotypic characters. The highest overall plumage color recorded was red (31.30%) followed by multi-colour (29.70) in cocks and in hens it was brown (36.03%), followed by black (22.09%) and multi-colour (17.99%). The highest primary plumage pattern in cocks and hens was solid (45.22 and 44.79%) followed by dull (29.14 and 31.10%) and the least pattern observed was stripped (0.88 and 1.13%). The most commonly observed secondary plumage pattern in cocks and hens were self-red (29.98 and 29.69%) followed by self-black (20.34%) and barred (18.72%). The predominant skin colour was yellow in both cocks and hens (74.60 – 78.40%) followed by white skin colour (22.10 – 25.41%). Yellow shanks was the predominant shank colour (77.48%) followed by black (14.17%) and least was white (1.09%). The colour of the ear lobes in indigenous chicken from Bengaluru division of Karnataka irrespective of the sex was predominantly red (99.45%) and few birds carried white ear lobes (0.55%). The results of the present study provided evidences of varying phenotypic characteristics of indigenous birds in Bengaluru division of Karnataka indicating adaptability of the birds under filed conditions for better productivity and survivability.