Comparative performance of Vanaraja, RIR and indigenous birds under backyard system of rearing in Birbhum district of West Bengal

Backyard poultry farming is one of the most important livelihoods of the poorest households, particularly of rural tribal masses living below poverty line. It has a strong potential as an income generation activity by sale of eggs and meat. The present study was carried out to compare the performance of Vanaraja, a dual purpose bird developed for backyard poultry farming, Rhode Island Red and indigenous non-descript poultry birds for their adaptability to dry land farming situation of Birbhum district under backyard system of poultry rearing. The respective productive performance in terms of body weight at different age groups, age of first laying, egg production, egg weight, hatchability and mortality percentage of the three genetic groups were evaluated in the present study. The result revealed that the body weights of Vanaraja were significantly (P<0.05) higher than the corresponding body weights of Rhode Island Red and indigenous birds at different age groups. Bodyweight of Vanaraja at 52 weeks of age for male was 3691.87±20.84gm while for female it was 2487.01±16.73 gm. With regard to comparative performance on egg weight and egg production Rhode Island Red performed significantly (P<0.05) better than Vanaraja and indigenous chicken. The mean egg production of Rhode Island Red at 72 weeks of age was recorded as 157.23±1.11, whereas mortality percentage of laying birds, chick survivability and hatchability percentage on total egg set basis were almost similar (P>0.05) in three genetic groups. Therefore, it can be concluded that performance of Vanaraja and Rhode Island Red under dry land farming system of Birbhum district of West Bengal was found satisfactory and the birds are well adapted to local agro-climatic condition under backyard system of production.