engleski

Morphological characteristics of Dalmatian turkey : preliminary results

Dalmatian turkey is a local, archaic form which has been traditionally reared on the area of Dalmatian hinterland. This local form has quite specific phenotypic characteristics and it's very suitable for extensive production system in small flocks where turkeys are keeping and feeding outdoor the most part of the year. Since everyday increase in turkey’ s hybrids in this area decrease number of Dalmatian turkey, we find necessary to determine their average population size and morphological characteristics. That will present the first steps towards its’ full phenotypic and genotypic identification as a possible autochthonous breed. From this reason we collected data from 26 breeders with 3 to 20 breeding animals in flocks. Also we performed morphological measurements (determination of feather colour, body mass and average body and head measures) on 10 flocks (2 females and 1 male in each flock). Average body mass of turkey hens was 4.3+0.7 kg, and of turkey cocks was 7.2+1.2 kg. The plumage colour were predominantly black, bronze, grey or white-palm, rarely mottled black.

Dalmatian turkey; autochthonous form; phenotypic characteristics; body measures

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