Characterization Of Village Chicken Production System With Emphasis On Selected Health Problems In Eastern Zone Oromia Ethiopia

This study was carried out in three agro-ecologies in the East Shoa Zone of Oromia Regional State from October 2006 to April 2007. The study areas were Gimbichu (highland), Lume (midland) and Boset (lowland). The objectives of the study were to characterize poultry production system in the study areas and investigate the prevalence and determinants of selected poultry health problems. A questionnaire survey was carried out to collect data about poultry production system characteristics on 301 households (100 households from Gimbichu and Boset, and 101 households from Lume). A total of 328 adult chickens (105 from highland, 115 from midland and 108 from lowland) were autopsied to determine species of helminthes and counts of adult parasites. External parasites were collected from different parts of the skin to identify flea, lice and mite species. Haemagglutination-Inhibition (HAI) Test and Slide Agglutination Test were used to determine the seroprevalence of Newcastle disease and fowl typhoid, respectively. Collected data was analyzed using descriptive statistics and Chi-Square statistics. The results showed that poultry keeping was practiced mainly for egg and meat production as sources of income. The average poultry flock size for the overall study areas 7.53 and the flock was dominated by chicks in all the agro-ecologies. In most of the cases poultry had night shelters (40.6% in Lume, 55% in Boset and 75% in Gimbichu). Encouraging proportion of households in Gimbichu (69%) and Lume (49.5%) were supplementing their chicken with grains while households in Boset were dependent mainly on scavenging feed resources. Poultry attending was mainly the responsibility of women in general (81.1-91%) and wives in particular (67.3-73%). The predominant breeds of chicken reared in all the studied areas were indigenous and disease problems were serious during the main rainy season. The average chicks mortality was 2.33 (SE=0.12) while adult chicken mortality was 0.62 (SE=0.09). Significantly higher mortality was recorded in the highland (0.98±021) than midland (0.42±0.21) and lowland areas (0.45±0.13) (p

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