Phenotypic characterization of Shumen chicken breed

Hristo Lukanov, Atanas Genchev, Petar Petrov

Abstract: During the 2009–2014 period а phenotypic characterization of 146 roosters and 356 hens of the breed was made. Typical representatives of the breed exterior measurements and calculated exterior indexes were made on 30 roosters and 60 hens, as follows: Index for massiveness; Index for conciseness and Body position Index. The average age of the male birds was 12.2 months and 12.5 months of the females. The average live body weight was 2.07 ± 0.04 kg in roosters, and 1.67 ± 0.03 kg in hens. The results of the calculation of the Index for massiveness, Index of compactness and Index of long-leggedness in roosters were 9.15 ± 0.15%; 159.8 ± 1.5% and 41.05 ± 0.25%, and 8.81 ± 0.1%; 164.78 ± 1% and 34.9 ± 0.4% in hens respectively. The main part of birds phenotypically resemble the description of the breed in the available literature. In conclusion the population of the modern Shumen chicken is a homogeneous with respect to phenotypic characteristics with two color varieties: black and blue, which is a prerequisite for the preparation of an updated standard of the breed and supply of official approbation.

Keywords: body weight; exterior indexes; phenotypic characteristic; Shumen chicken

Date published: 2018-10-04