Phenotypic characterization of native chicken ‘Zoar’ of Mizoram, India in its home tract

Abstract

A study was conducted on native chicken ‘Zoar’ of Mizoram, India in its breeding tract (Aizawl and Mamit districts) to evaluate the phenotypic characteristics. All the Zoar birds had normal feather morphology and normal feather distribution. The most predominant plumage colour of males was Black golden yellowish brown (36.54%), followed by Orange yellowish white (23.08%) and Reddish orange (21.15%), with low frequencies of White orange brownish mix and whitish yellow. In females, the most prominent plumage colour was either brownish or red and black brownish. The majority of males showed plain plumage pattern while mottled plumage pattern was most frequent in females. The Skin was mostly creamish with pinkish colour with less proportion of whitish skin. The birds had a featherless shank with mostly yellow colour. The other colours were green, white and black. Beak colour was mainly blackish yellow followed by yellow and black. The most common eye colour was orange. The other colours were red, brown and with a low frequency of pearl. The most frequent ear lobe colour was red followed by the admixture of red and white. The red colour comb was most frequently observed than the blackish red colour comb. The most common comb type was single comb type, followed by pea, rose and buttercup. The findings suggested that the Zoar chicken of Mizoram is a chicken type of normal feathered morphology with multi-coloured plumage and featherless shank.