Résumé:
Local chickens are an important tool for food security and poverty alleviation among rural families. This study focuses primarily on the phenotypic characterization of local chickens in the wilaya of Mostaganem and on establishing a model to predict the live weight of chickens based on certain body measurements. A total of 142 roosters were used. The average weight of roosters in the studied region was 1733.13 ± 295.237 g. The adult animals were mostly of medium size, with a body length of 38.22±3.59 cm and a wingspan of 46.26±3.77 cm. Live weight was significantly related to crest height (+0.30; P<0.01) and wingspan (+0.46; P<0.01). The proposed CART model for predicting the live weight of local roosters shows excellent performance, reflected by a high R² value of 0.996 and an RMSE value of 12.06. The results suggest that the proposed CART model could be considered appropriate for predicting the live weight of local chickens.