Abstract:

Abstract: The purpose of this study was to investigate the body type traits, including body weight and body size of Dehua Black Chicken ,a native breed of Fujian, by correlation and cluster analysis. The results indicated that the correlations between body weight and body length, chest depth, chest width, chest angle ,sternum length，shank length ,shank girth ,were significantly positive for the male, and the largest correlation coefficient is body length ( r =0.796). The correlations were also positive significantly between body weight and chest width, chest angle , shank girth for the female. But the largest correlation coefficient is chest width ( r =0.454). With cluster analysis ,body type traits of those chickens were divided into four types in male and three types in female. The results of this study will provide the scientific basis for breeding and improving of the native breed.