Production Performance of Vanaraja Bird under Traditional System of Rearing In Assam

Abstract

Backyard poultry farming is an age-old practice among rural people of North-Eastern Region of India including Assam. It is a potent tool for livelihood promotion of the rural people of Assam. Commercial layer farming is practically non-existent in Assam (Sapcota and Mahanta, 2007). Backyard poultry farming by and large was a low input or no input venture (Singh and Johari, 1990; Saha, 2003). Besides income generation, backyard poultry helps in alleviation of malnutrition of the rural people through production of valuable animal protein and empowers rural women. In spite of low productivity, the contribution of backyard poultry towards Indian egg production is about 30 to 40 per cent (Panda et al., 2008). In Assam, the eggs and meat of indigenous chicken fetch fair prices as compared to that of commercial chicken. Backyard poultry do not require large investment to start and maintain as compared to commercial poultry (Alders et al., 2009). Vanaraja, a dual purpose chicken has become popular among the rural people of as one of the income generating activity especially for the rural women (Niranjan et al., 2008a). In the context of the above, the present study was undertaken to compare the performance of Vanaraja with that of indigenous chicken under rural backyard system of rearing in Jorhat and Nagaon districts of Assam.