Endangered Kadaknath gets a new lease of life in Mhow

The efforts of College of Veterinary Sciences and Animal Husbandry in Mhow have borne fruits, with endangered black-fleshed Kadaknath being successfully bred outside its natural habitat.

A poultry breed Kadaknath aka Kali Masi is native to Jhabua and is among endangered due to over hunting.  "This breed has almost been wiped out from Jhabua, due to a belief that its meat has aphrodisiac qualities," said the Dean Dr U K Garg, adding it was found in Alirajpur and Kathiwada too, but not anymore.

"We are trying our best to ensure that the Kadaknath can be saved from genetic erosion and it continues to thrive," he added.

Connoisseurs who wish to relish the tasty Kadaknath meat can buy the chickens at `300 per kg live weight.  "We also sell the eggs which are very nutritious at `5 per egg.  Fertile eggs are sold at `20 per egg to poultry farmers," Dr Garg said.

"Hopefully Mhow will soon become the focal point for revival of the Kadaknath breed," he added. The Kadaknath belongs to the same species (Gallus gallus domesticus) as the domestic fowl.  But it is a different breed.

Dr Garg said that there are three breeds of black meat chicken in the world one is the Kadaknath, Silkie of China and Ayam Cemani of Indonesia.

"There are three types of Kadaknath chicken - Golden, Pencilled and Jet Black. The jet black variety is the most popular," he said adding the black colour of the meat is due to the large amount of melanin present in it.

"We had originally started this project in 2011 with 500 chicks from Jhabua and an equal number from our college in Jabalpur," said Dr Shrikant Joshi, principal investigator of the government sponsored project Conservation and Scientific Evaluation of Kadaknath Breed of Fowl.

The whole process is conducted very scientifically. Eggs laid by the hens are collected and kept in the incubator for 18 days at a temperature of 99-100 degrees Fahrenheit and 85% relative humidity, he said. They are then taken to the egg candler where the eggs with live embryos are separated and kept in the hatcher where the temperature is around 2 degrees less than that of the incubator but the relative humidity is more.

The chicks which are hatched in 21 days are then sold to poultry farm owners.