Twitter
Advertisement

Indian chicken gets world recognition for egg productivity

Kuroiler, an Indian variety of genetically-bred chicken, can increase egg production by 462%.

Latest News
article-main
FacebookTwitterWhatsappLinkedin

If you are enterprising with time on your hands and some space—and Rs5,000 as seed capital—to spare, and are looking at making good amounts of extra bucks out of a self-sustaining business, a little-known Indian variety of genetically bred chicken could help make your dreams come true.

The chicken is called Kuroiler; it multiplies rapidly; and has come in for much global recognition and appreciation. It is cited as an ideal poultry business model, primarily aimed at uplifting the poor in rural areas. But the model can also work in unconfined suburban/urban settings yielding equally huge profits or even more.

A study presented last week at the American Veterinary Medical Association meeting in Saint Louis, Missouri, USA, has found that the Kuroiler success story translated into incomes going up by a whopping 341%. The study was conducted by an American researcher of Indian-origin, Jagdev Sharma, from Centre for Infectious Diseases and Vaccinology at Arizona State University’s (ASU’s) Biodesign Institute.

The Kuroiler chicken meat yield per bird is more as male birds weighed 3kg against 1.5-2kg their native counterparts. The Kuroilers recorded 84% survival rate considering their higher disease resistance and hardy nature.

The study points at a 133% increase in Kuroiler meat production and a 462% rise in egg production. Kuroiler hens can deliver around 200 eggs per year compared with 40 by the native hens. Due to the genetically-imbibed features the birds are agile and resistant to disease, thus drastically cutting running costs.

Sharma, the UN and World Society for Protection of Animals (WSPA) say the poultry model is a roaring success in rural India, and is prescribed for Uganda in its rural areas to pave the way for its introduction in several other poor regions of the world.

“The success of the Kuroiler chicken in India, where it was first introduced (mainly in rural settings), makes us hopeful for similar improvements in rural Africa,” Sharma says. His study found Kuroiler more fertile than native chickens, while its eggs’ hatching rate was 80% successful compared with 47% among native eggs, according to ASU’s Biodesign Institute.

South Asia Pro-Poor Livestock Policy Program (SA PPLPP) – a joint initiative of National Dairy Development Board, Anand and Food and Agriculture Organisation of the UN – has lauded Kuroiler (first introduced by Keggfarms Private Limited in rural India in 1993) as an ideal poultry business model with low running costs, high profits based on a simple and workable distribution network.

A WSPA study, presented at a May 12 UN meeting on sustainable farming, praised the Kuroiler breeding process as “the commercial egg production system is cage-free and kinder to the laying hens.”

Find your daily dose of news & explainers in your WhatsApp. Stay updated, Stay informed-  Follow DNA on WhatsApp.
Advertisement

Live tv

Advertisement
Advertisement