CHARACTERIZATION OF THE KABYLE BREED OF HEN (THAYAZIT LEKVAYEL) AND ITS FARMING SYSTEM IN THE REGION OF CHEMINI AND BOUZEGUENE (ALGERIA)

English. peer reviewed

English. The rural poultry in Algeria is a supplier of popular products. The aims of this study are to characterize local chickens in Kabylie in terms of the livestock practices, management, flock structures, uses, performance and phenotypes. The present survey addresses this issue in the case of Kabylie, a mountainous coastal region of Algeria, and concerns 28 households raising poultry and a morpho - biometric description of 388 (290 females and 98 males) adult local chickens. The farming practices is characterized by a reduction in the time allocated for this activity and to deal with production costs which are aspects of an unproductive extensive livestock system considered as a secondary activity. The body weight is 2.03 ± 0.22 kg and 1.61 ± 0.19 kg respectively in the male and the female. The age at first egg, egg weight, egg production per hen per clutch, number of clutches per year, hatchability and number of chicks weaned are 28.00 ± 3.82 weeks, 49.03 ± 3.66 g, 13.57 ± 1.64, 3.82 ± 1.14, 89.29 ± 9.79% and 7.82 ±1.75 respectively. The comb type is mostly single (89.43%). Skin colours are principally white (39.18%) and yellow (39.43). The comb and wattles are mostly red (93.30). Shanks colours are principally yellow (49.74%) and white (24.23%). The most common plumage colours are salmon (14.43%), white (12.11%), black (17%), grey (9.54%) and gold (9.02%). The genetic improvement of local poultry breeds is also to consider, provided that the suitability of the animal with respect to the context of its breeding is preserved.