Growth Performance Comparison of Native Chicken with Improved Variety of Desi Bird under the Backyard System of Rearing

In the Namakkal district, rural women reared native chickens with low meat production in their backyard. Improved variety of Desi birds is very important to increase the backyard poultry meat production. Hence, the objective of this On-Farm Trial is to compare the growth performance of native chicken, Vanaraja, and Gramapriya. This trial was conducted at Philippakuttai and Naraikinaru villages of Namakkal district. A total of 200 numbers of Vanaraja and 200 numbers of Gramapriya day-old chicks were distributed to two women's groups. Each group consists of 5 farmers, and each farmer was supplied with 40 numbers of improved varieties of chicks. Group I was with native chicken as control (C), Group II was reared with Gramapriya chicks, and Group III was with Vanaraja chicks. The fortnight body weight and mortality were taken in all the groups. The present study revealed that Gramapriya and Vanaraja had significantly (P<0.01) increased body weight compared to the control up to the end of 16th weeks of age. In this study, the percentage of mortality was significantly (P<0.01) lower in native chicken than Gramapriya and Vanaraja during the early part of their (0-5 weeks) life. However, there was no significant difference in mortality among the groups in the later part of life. The present study concluded that an improved variety of Desi birds showed higher body weight compared to native chicken.