author(s)
Simushi Liswaniso, Ning Qin and Rifu XU

abstract
This study was conducted to understand egg quality traits of Zambian indigenous chicken eggs in Kabwe as a way to create an inventory of the genetic potential of these chickens. This is the inventory that may be used to design breeding programs for the improvement of egg quality traits of indigenous free-range chickens in Kabwe, Zambia. 316 eggs of uncharacterized indigenous chickens were collected from around small scale farmers and used in this study. Egg weight was 48.63g, egg length and width were 54.26mm and 40.22mm respectively. The egg weight had positive correlation with all traits measured, meaning that if selection is made for any of these traits it would result in a corresponding increase in egg weight. Three principal components were extracted that accounted for 79.05% of the total variance. We hypothesized that PC1 was a size factor and PC2 shell quality factor. These results indicate that there exists high potential for egg quality improvements in Kabwe through proper breeding and selection methods.