Ecological niche modelling as a tool to identify candidate indigenous chicken ecotypes of Tigray (Ethiopia)
The Tigray region is an ancient entry route for the domestic chickens into Africa. The oldest African chicken bones were found in this region at Mezber, a pre-Aksumite rural farming settlement. They were dated to around 800–400 BCE. Since then, the farming communities of the region have integrated c...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
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| Format: | Journal Article |
| Language: | Inglés |
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Frontiers Media
2022
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/10568/125140 |
| _version_ | 1855518258089689088 |
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| author | Gebru, Gebreslassie Belay, G. Vallejo Trujillo, Adriana Dessie, Tadelle Gheyas, Almas A. Hanotte, Olivier H. |
| author_browse | Belay, G. Dessie, Tadelle Gebru, Gebreslassie Gheyas, Almas A. Hanotte, Olivier H. Vallejo Trujillo, Adriana |
| author_facet | Gebru, Gebreslassie Belay, G. Vallejo Trujillo, Adriana Dessie, Tadelle Gheyas, Almas A. Hanotte, Olivier H. |
| author_sort | Gebru, Gebreslassie |
| collection | Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace) |
| description | The Tigray region is an ancient entry route for the domestic chickens into Africa. The oldest African chicken bones were found in this region at Mezber, a pre-Aksumite rural farming settlement. They were dated to around 800–400 BCE. Since then, the farming communities of the region have integrated chicken into their livelihoods. The region is also recognised for its high chicken-to-human population ratio and diverse and complex geography, ranging from 500 to 4,000 m above sea level (m.a.s.l.). More than 15 agro-ecological zones have been described. Following exotic chicken introductions, the proportion of indigenous chicken is now 70% only in the region. It calls for the characterisation of indigenous Tigrayan chicken ecotypes and their habitats. This study reports an Ecological Niche Modelling using MaxEnt to characterise the habitats of 16 indigenous village chicken populations of Tigray. A total of 34 ecological and landscape variables: climatic (22), soil (eight), vegetation, and land cover (four), were included. We applied Principal Component Analysis correlation, and MaxentVariableSelection procedures to select the most contributing and uncorrelated variables. The selected variables were three climatic (bio5 = maximum temperature of the warmest month, bio8 = mean temperature of the wettest quarter, bio13 = precipitation of the wettest month), three vegetation and land cover (grassland, forest land, and cultivated land proportional areas), and one soil (clay content). Following our analysis, we identified four main chicken agro-ecologies defining four candidates indigenous Tigrayan chicken ecotypes. The study provides baseline information for phenotypic and genetic characterisation as well as conservation interventions of indigenous Tigrayan chickens. |
| format | Journal Article |
| id | CGSpace125140 |
| institution | CGIAR Consortium |
| language | Inglés |
| publishDate | 2022 |
| publishDateRange | 2022 |
| publishDateSort | 2022 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media |
| publisherStr | Frontiers Media |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | CGSpace1251402025-12-08T10:29:22Z Ecological niche modelling as a tool to identify candidate indigenous chicken ecotypes of Tigray (Ethiopia) Gebru, Gebreslassie Belay, G. Vallejo Trujillo, Adriana Dessie, Tadelle Gheyas, Almas A. Hanotte, Olivier H. indigenous breeds chickens poultry genetics The Tigray region is an ancient entry route for the domestic chickens into Africa. The oldest African chicken bones were found in this region at Mezber, a pre-Aksumite rural farming settlement. They were dated to around 800–400 BCE. Since then, the farming communities of the region have integrated chicken into their livelihoods. The region is also recognised for its high chicken-to-human population ratio and diverse and complex geography, ranging from 500 to 4,000 m above sea level (m.a.s.l.). More than 15 agro-ecological zones have been described. Following exotic chicken introductions, the proportion of indigenous chicken is now 70% only in the region. It calls for the characterisation of indigenous Tigrayan chicken ecotypes and their habitats. This study reports an Ecological Niche Modelling using MaxEnt to characterise the habitats of 16 indigenous village chicken populations of Tigray. A total of 34 ecological and landscape variables: climatic (22), soil (eight), vegetation, and land cover (four), were included. We applied Principal Component Analysis correlation, and MaxentVariableSelection procedures to select the most contributing and uncorrelated variables. The selected variables were three climatic (bio5 = maximum temperature of the warmest month, bio8 = mean temperature of the wettest quarter, bio13 = precipitation of the wettest month), three vegetation and land cover (grassland, forest land, and cultivated land proportional areas), and one soil (clay content). Following our analysis, we identified four main chicken agro-ecologies defining four candidates indigenous Tigrayan chicken ecotypes. The study provides baseline information for phenotypic and genetic characterisation as well as conservation interventions of indigenous Tigrayan chickens. 2022-09-30 2022-10-20T14:28:01Z 2022-10-20T14:28:01Z Journal Article https://hdl.handle.net/10568/125140 en Open Access Frontiers Media Gebru, G., Belay, G., Vallejo-Trujillo, A., Dessie, T., Gheyas, A. and Hanotte, O. 2022. Ecological niche modelling as a tool to identify candidate indigenous chicken ecotypes of Tigray (Ethiopia). Frontiers in Genetics 13:968961. |
| spellingShingle | indigenous breeds chickens poultry genetics Gebru, Gebreslassie Belay, G. Vallejo Trujillo, Adriana Dessie, Tadelle Gheyas, Almas A. Hanotte, Olivier H. Ecological niche modelling as a tool to identify candidate indigenous chicken ecotypes of Tigray (Ethiopia) |
| title | Ecological niche modelling as a tool to identify candidate indigenous chicken ecotypes of Tigray (Ethiopia) |
| title_full | Ecological niche modelling as a tool to identify candidate indigenous chicken ecotypes of Tigray (Ethiopia) |
| title_fullStr | Ecological niche modelling as a tool to identify candidate indigenous chicken ecotypes of Tigray (Ethiopia) |
| title_full_unstemmed | Ecological niche modelling as a tool to identify candidate indigenous chicken ecotypes of Tigray (Ethiopia) |
| title_short | Ecological niche modelling as a tool to identify candidate indigenous chicken ecotypes of Tigray (Ethiopia) |
| title_sort | ecological niche modelling as a tool to identify candidate indigenous chicken ecotypes of tigray ethiopia |
| topic | indigenous breeds chickens poultry genetics |
| url | https://hdl.handle.net/10568/125140 |
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