Comparative study of growth and production performance of Kroiler, Vanraja and desi birds under extensive system of rearing in cold, arid area of Kargil, Ladakh

Abstract

KVK-Kargil under its FLD programme, distributed Kroiler and Vanraja birds to selected tribal families belonging to two blocks of Kargil District and that were considered for the present investigation to carry out a comparative growth and production performance of the improved supplied variety with the existing deshi birds. The results revealed that body weights gain varies significantly among Kroiler, Vanraja and Desi chicken across the different age and were found to be 1.91±0.02, 1.78±0.02 and 0.62±0.014 at six months; 3.93±0.05, 3.64±0.07 and 1.48±0.01 at one year and 4.33±0.05, 4.07±0.06 and 1.87±0.01 at two years of age respectively. Similar trend were also observed in respect of all production parameters, be it age at first laying, numbers of egg production or egg weight. Numbers of egg produced during first cycle reveals the figure as 182.95±1.31,172.44±1.59 and 112.85±1.73 for Kroiler, Vanraja and Desi birds respectively and which differ significantly among each other. The study concludes that the Kroiler and Vanraja have better adaptability under free range system of production in cold arid condition of Kargil and can be a better alternative for existing Desi birds to augment the production and met the nutritional demand.