Genotype X environment interaction in two breeds of chickens kept under two management systems in Southern Ethiopia.

Rhode Island Red (RIR) and Fayoumi chickens were evaluated on-station in a college farm and on-farm in village farms, whereas local chickens were only tested under on-farm condition. Traits recorded are egg production and egg quality, body weight and feed efficiency at 4, 8 and 12 months of age. Significant age effect was found for most traits except for shell thickness, albumen height and egg length. Also, significant breed by management system interactions were found for all traits measured in both systems. Fayoumi chickens were higher in egg production in both management systems. Moreover, they were higher than RIR in feed efficiency. RIR were higher in most egg quality traits and had higher weight gain. Local chickens performed below the two exotic breeds in most of the traits, but had higher weight gain than Fayoumi. Chickens kept on-farm had poorer performance than those kept on-station in all traits except for yolk colour.