Canonical Analysis for Assessment of Genetic Diversity of Three Indigenous Chicken Ecotypesin North Gondar Zone, Ethiopia

Rapid exploratory field survey, to identify indigenous chicken ecotypes was conducted in north Gondar zone of Ethiopia. Chicken ecotypes including Necked neck, Gasgie and Gugut from Quara, Alefa and Tache Armacheho districts were identified, respectively. Morphological variations among the three study populations and nine measurable traits were evaluated. General linear model, canonical discriminate and stepwise analyses were applied for assessing variability among the study populations. Necked neck and Gasgie ecotypes were heavier and had wider linear traits than the rest, while most of the study traits for the Gugut ecotype were the lowest. The most important variables for discriminating between the three populations were shank length, keel length, wingspan and beak length with canonical discriminant functionscore of0.897, 0.752, 0.449 and0.433, respectively. The greatest distance value was between Gasgie and Necked neck ecotype while the least one was between Gugut and Necked neck. The discriminate analysis therefore classified the three populations to be distinct clusters. The morphological traits studied have proved to be useful in genetic characterization of indigenous chickens and can thus be useful in developing strategies for conservation of the genetic diversity.