BASIC APPROACH TO COMMERCIAL POULTRY BREEDERS’ MANAGEMENT

BASIC APPROACH TO COMMERCIAL POULTRY BREEDERS’ MANAGEMENT

Apeksha, Ph.D. scholar, Animal Genetics Division, ICAR-IVRI Izatnagar

 ABSTRACT: The Indian poultry industry is one of the best examples of a sector that has prospered at a very fast pace despite having been commercialized only recently. It offers appealing profits against a simple set of inputs, if managed in the right manner. Like all other livestock species, poultry production can also be divided into different stages, starting from the birth of birds till they reach the market. The breeders or the parent stock, are a very valuable part of this production chain, as they establish the seed for future returns, and in fact, they themselves fetch higher prices on sale. A well-designed, scientific management plan for these breeders is therefore very crucial in obtaining high output: input ratio in commercial farms. This encompasses all the routine activities directly or indirectly related to enhancing production of the birds and ensuring their wellness at the same time. Following good managemental practices can warrant high returns by optimally utilizing the limited resources available. The progress made with these routine steps can be converted into consecutively higher profits at each step of production, and serve as the backbone for the overall development of the commercial poultry rearing sector. This article covers all the basics of managing breeders of different poultry species under the Indian commercial farm settings. Different operations starting from the selection and procurement of the parent stock until the end of production have been dealt with to provide a useful guide to the wholesome management of these birds.

Key words: Breeder, poultry, management, commercial, production, welfare

 Introduction: The livestock sector has served for the financial sustenance of farmers from all the strata of society in developing nations like India for a long time in history. Lately the sector has been commercialized speedily to supplement the growing populations and rising food demands. One component that has yielded excellent results globally as well as in India, is the poultry rearing sector. There has been an exuberant poultry population growth of 16.81%, and the commercial poultry population increased by 4.5% in the country (Livestock census 2019). There has been a positive market response, given the inherent features of poultry as a farm animal. Relatively low cost and short time for production increase its efficiency, which is further met by a wide customer acceptance. There is no socio-religious taboo associated with the consumption of poultry eggs and meat. These products further yield premium prices when subjected to value addition. Other contributions include recreation, manure, animal feed, research and development etc. Hence, the sector has currently surpassed several other livestock sectors in terms of its growth (Scanes, 2007). The present day organized commercial poultry sector in India has taken over around 80% of the total poultry market share, and is still growing. Chicken is the most reared species of poultry, comprising around 92% of the total poultry population. Ducks have a share of around 9% (FAO, 2008). Other important species include quails, turkeys, geese, Guinea fowls, pigeon, ostrich, emu etc. Quail farming has a rising commercial scope, and the Japanese quail is quite popular in India.

Management of poultry breeders: Organized farming of animals runs on a highly ordered set of practices, starting from their pre-birth events, up till their destined use at the customer’s end. The first step involves the planned breeding among a set of scrupulously selected birds, to obtain efficiently producing offspring from them. These parent birds, called as “breeders”, can be considered as the backbone of any commercial poultry flock. In fact, among the contributors to the great success of poultry industry are the highly prolific nature and the short generation interval in poultry. For example, at least 240 chicks are produced by a layer breeder per year. Utilization of this capacity is important for a farm’s economic gains, which reiterates the importance of understanding the basics of breeder management in an enterprise. A wholesome management plan encompasses following of scientific practices for all activities in a farm which aid in maximizing profits, while taking care of the organism’s welfare under the restricted space and environment of commercial poultry houses.

Breeding goal: First and foremost, comes the establishment of a breeder flock, for which several factors should be considered before selecting the birds. The major product desired, and the target customer’s demands need to be considered. A sound knowledge about the different egg-type or meat-type breeds is required. Further, choice should be made among exotic, indigenous, and cross-bred breeds by considering the market demand. The fertility and hatchability also differ among different species, breeds, and strains, which again need to be deliberated upon before selecting the parent stock. Some common breeds of poultry for different classes are given in Table 1.

Table 1: Common breeds of different poultry species

Procurement of breeders: The initial poults should be bought from a reliable, disease-free breeder flock only. There should be a proper documented record about the birds being bought. They can be examined for soundness and must be in a good state of health. Quarantine rules must be followed properly before introducing them into the farm.

Breeding farm and rearing system: The breeding farm should be located in an isolated place, away from other commercial farms to ensure biosecurity, and hygiene should always be ensured. The farm should further be constructed on a scientific basis to maximize profit and ensure welfare of the flock. Long axis of the shed should be in the east-west direction to avoid exposure with direct sunlight. An elevation of around 1 ft. from the ground is desirable as it prevents water seepage into the building. Among the various methods of rearing, the intensive system fulfils the high output: input ratio demands of commercial settings. Different systems used for housing of parent stock include deep litter system, cage system, slat system and slat cum litter system. Generally, the slat and litter systems are preferred for breeders. To ensure their wellness while getting optimum levels of production, there is a need for proper allocation of space to them (Tables 2 and 3).

Table 2: Floor, feeder, and waterer space requirements in breeder chicken (North and Bell, 1990; Sreenivasaiah, 2006)

Table 3: Floor, feeder, and waterer space requirements in common poultry species (Sreenivasaiah, 2006)

Environment: Temperature and relative humidity (RH) in poultry houses should be maintained at 20-25°C and 40-60% respectively in general (DAHD, 2020). For breeders specifically, the recommended temperature, RH and rate of air flow are 18-21°C (range 10-30°C), 50-75% and 0.1420 m³/min (range 0.0142-0.1704 m³/min) respectively (Sreenivasaiah, 2006). Ambient temperature should not be too high or too low. If so, the birds tend to become lethargic and mate less often. The hatchability of eggs also gets reduced under such conditions. If reared under the litter system, moisture level of the litter should be in the range of 15-25%, and raking can be done regularly to reduce the moisture. Pollution in a farm can lead to distress among the birds, and therefore should be kept in check. For example, ammonia, an air pollutant, can cause keratoconjunctivitis, which has an adverse impact on breeders due to impaired vision besides causing other health conditions (Prabakaran, 2003).

Table 4: General thermal ranges and their impacts on poultry (DAHD,2020)

Lighting: The reproductive performance of breeders is influenced by the amount of daylight they receive in a day. Therefore, artificial lighting should be provided to maintain the amount of light at a constant level. An automatic monitoring and control system can be used for the purpose in commercial breeder sheds. Adult breeding birds, in general, require a photoperiod of 16 hours in a day for optimum fertility. Further, an indiscriminate night lighting in grower phase can lead to early sexual maturity, which is not desirable from production point of view. 

Table 5: Light requirement in breeders of different species (Sreenivasaiah, 2006)

Debeaking: Vitamin K should be given in water one day before debeaking. Debeaking should be carried out at 10-14 days of age in the birds. Half of the beak should be cut in case of males, whereas 2 mm is left from the nostrils in case of females. After debeaking, electrolytes can be given for 2-3 days.

Deworming and vaccination: Deworming should be done once in 4 or 6 weeks in deep litter system, and once in 8 weeks in cage and slat systems. The vaccination programme for breeders is same as that for layers (Table 6), but can be customized based on the diseases prevalent in a particular region. Killed vaccines are administered to the birds for Ranikhet disease, infectious bursal disease (I.B.D.), infectious bronchitis (I.B.), Reovirus etc. before egg production begins. In areas with higher menace, another shot at the age of 45 weeks can be given for Ranikhet disease, I.B.D. or I.B. In areas endemic for fowl cholera, 10 weeks old birds are vaccinated for protection. For execution of culling, the birds should be screened for Salmonella and Mycoplasma at the age of around 16 weeks.

Table 6: Vaccination schedule

Feeding: For an efficient production, the birds intended to serve as breeders must attain sexual maturity at an optimum age (around 21 weeks in chicken), with a normal mature body weight. Proper nutrition is essential for this, starting right after birth. A lower mature body weight indicates poor growth of reproductive organs, whereas higher weight implies higher feed utilization, reduced persistency and sometimes, problems associated with egg formation. Chicken requires a continuous feed supply since their metabolic rate is very high. Incorporation of probiotics in the diet improves reproductive performance of breeders (Prabakaran, 2003). Ruling out the presence of mycotoxins in poultry feed is very important as these adversely lower the health status and egg production, as well as fertility and hatchability. Aflatoxin content in feed should not exceed 50 ppb. Feed supplementation with vitamins like A, E, biotin, pantothenic acid and B2, and minerals like calcium, phosphorous, sodium, magnesium, manganese, zinc, and iodine, is desirable for optimum fertility and egg production in females. These nutrients are further important for good hatchability of the eggs. Vitamins A, B2 and E have significant role in improving hatchability. Deficiency of vitamin B2 especially, leads to a 0% hatchability. The nutrient requirements can slightly vary in male breeders. For example, high protein content can degrade sperm volume and quality, and thus a lower level (12-14%) should be fed to breeder males compared to their female counterparts. They also require lesser proportions of calcium compared to females, since the latter consume it additionally for egg production. Higher levels of vitamin E (up to 40 mg/kg) can be given to males.

Table 7: Nutrient requirements for breeder chicken (B.I.S.- Chicken: IS 1374 : 2024)

Table 8: Nutrient requirements for breeders of other poultry species (NRC-1994)

Mating: Males and females can generally be used for breeding from 22 weeks and 18-20 weeks of age respectively. The number of offspring produced by a bird increases starting from 25 weeks until 40 weeks of age, and gradually declines after that. For natural mating and artificial insemination, 12% and 8% males are sufficient to begin with in a flock. Sex ratio of 1:10-12 and 1:8-10 are recommended for layer and broiler breeders respectively. This ratio is only 1:1-2 in case of Japanese quails. Departure from these on both the ends reduces fertility. Females should be inseminated with 0.03-0.05 ml meat semen once every 5 days. Semen for A.I. should be used within 30 minutes of collection. It has been reported that insemination in the afternoon can reduce conception. Intense inbreeding must be avoided since it causes a reduction in fertility, among other disadvantages. Out-breeding on the other hand, improves fertility, and can be used as a tool to eliminate inbreeding depression in a farm. Apart from this, certain genes have been identified to be associated with fertility, and these can be utilized as a basis during selection of parent stock. For example, the rose comb (RR) gene in Wyandotte chicken has been associated with a lowered fertility in males. The breeding plans should further be designed to avoid and eliminate lethal or semi-lethal genes causing conditions like creeper, crooked toe, crooked beak, polydactyly.

Males: Males intended to serve as parents in future should be dubbed and detoed when they are a day old. They can be housed with females in early age, and separated any time up to the age of 21 weeks. Adults should not be weak, lame, or diseased. If used for artificial insemination, the semen quality and quantity must be adequate to ensure conception. For example, at least 0.5 ml of neat semen per ejaculate with 60% or more motile spermatozoa ensure adequacy for A.I. Birds failing in any of these requirements should be replaced and culled immediately.

Disease management: Disease management is very important for breeding birds, as diseases tend to affect their fertility and production. Also, certain infectious diseases can be transmitted vertically from the parents to their progeny, leading to rejection of the farm produce. These include mycoplasmosis, salmonellosis, avian leukosis, egg drop syndrome etc. In India, the breeding flocks are compulsorily tested for salmonellosis (Mehta and Nambiar, 2007). Strict quarantine and biosecurity measures must be followed to prevent introduction of infectious diseases. Several private diagnostic laboratories have been established in addition to those at government institutions, and can be easily accessed for timely diagnoses. Diseased birds should be isolated and treated. Probiotics should be given to the stressed birds in addition to medication prescribed by the veterinarian (Prabakaran, 2003). Dead birds should be disposed under high bio-security by methods like burying, incineration, septic tank disposal etc. Hygiene and disinfection of the sheds and farm equipment must be ensured.

Veterinary examination: Regular examinations can be carried out on the parent flock by a professional veterinary doctor to ensure a state of good health and welfare. Post-mortem examinations are essential for timely management of infectious diseases and for modifying the managemental practices if needed.

Flock uniformity: From management and high production point of view, a breeding flock must have at least 80% uniformity at any given time. This additionally yields more uniform sized chicks and also lowers the culling rate. Chicks should be grouped based on their body weights, starting from 4 weeks of age, and extra care should be aided toward weaker ones to attain flock uniformity.

Culling: For maintaining a breeder stock at profitable levels, regular judging and culling of unhealthy, diseased or unproductive individuals are an integral operation. Usually it is performed on a monthly basis. A culling rate up to 3-5% is acceptable generally, which becomes more intense at later stages of the laying cycle. The birds can be judged using a score card for desirable characteristics. In case of parent stock, productive characteristics are given higher weightage for retaining individuals. They should be in a good state of health and vigour, with normal phenotypic appearance.

Hatch management: Eggs from younger birds (21 to 40 weeks age) have been reported to have a better hatchability. For nesting in deep litter or slat systems, one hole should be provided for laying by 4-5 hens. These holes should be closed at night to avoid soiling of the eggs and to discourage broodiness. Egg collection in these systems is recommended at the rate of once per hour in forenoon and once every two hours in afternoon. In case of cage housing, collection can be carried out 2-3 times in a day. Eggs laid by the breeders should be cleaned and sent to a grading station for evaluation in order to obtain good quality chicks. Eggs having abnormal shape, size, or shell, or having poor internal quality, can be discarded. Easy procedures like candling can be used for quality assessment. Dirty eggs should be subjected to dry cleaning only, discarded ones can be sold for table purpose. Fumigation of the selected eggs using formaldehyde (3x concentration) ensures absence of microbes before subjecting to incubation and hatching (Geetha et. al., 2020). Dipped in antibiotics like gentamicin or tylosin can be done for control of egg-transmitted microorganisms (Prabakaran, 2003). Proper storage conditions should be maintained until the eggs are set for incubation, and they should be sent for hatching within a week of laying. The hatchery must be in a good, hygienic condition to support breeding operations carried out in a commercial farm. The temperature and humidity must be optimally maintained at all times in the incubator. There should not be any abrupt or frequent variation. Recommended levels of oxygen and carbon dioxide must be maintained. Proper positioning and turning of eggs are also very important for hatching. A slightly lower temperature and higher humidity in the hatcher as compared to the setter can lead to improved hatchability.

Record keeping: A record of purchases, expenses, sales, and production must be maintained meticulously to enhance the valuation and further improvement in a commercial farm. Separate registers for each batch should be made to record all the data from birth/ purchase to disposal.

Transport: Sometimes the need to transport breeder birds from one place to another can arise, as in case of purchase of new stock or shifting to another area. There are no specific standards set for breeders’ transport separately, and those specified for adult birds can be followed when required. Care should be taken regarding adequate ventilation, safety, and avoidance of overcrowding. Containers/ boxes carrying the birds should be made up of a sturdy, damage-proof material. Sufficient feed and water should be made available during the journey. A minimum floor space of 550 cm², within a box of dimensions 115x50x45 cm³ is sufficient to carry 12 adult birds comfortably (Patel et. al., 2015). In case of geese and turkey, these parameters are 1900 cm² and 55x35x75 cm³ respectively for a single adult only (Patel et. al., 2015).

Insurance: Various insurance schemes are currently available for breeder poultry birds against deaths from different diseases, accidents, and calamities.

Conclusion: The Indian poultry industry is growing at a rapid pace and offers huge market returns in a relatively lesser time. At present, several commercial units are well established in the country to carry out different operations of poultry rearing separately, and steps are also being taken toward a large scale spread of an integrated approach. Like any other livestock rearing activity, the base of poultry farming is set up by the parent or breeder stock, whose quality ultimately governs the production and profits of a farm. Therefore, their management comes to the primary focus of any poultry farm. Guidelines are well-established for all the activities like breeding and procurement, housing, feeding, microenvironmental conditions, disease management, vaccination etc. Following these recommendations in an orderly manner ensures optimum production levels resulting in high profits, as well as wellness of the producing farm animals. Basics of management can lead the farms and the Indian poultry industry as a whole to a path of great progress in future.

REFERENCES

CPCSEA Guidelines for Poultry/ Birds Facility, 2020. Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying, Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying, Government of India, New Delhi. Available at https://ccsea.gov.in/WriteReadData/userfiles/file/newguidelines20.pdf.

Geetha, D., Mulla, F.M., Jangali, S.G., Kulkarni, V.N., Gaitonde, V.N. and Kotturshettar, B.B., 2020, December. Implementation of enterprise solution for a poultry management system. In Journal of Physics: Conference Series (Vol. 1706, No. 1, p. 012209). IOP Publishing.

Mehta, R. and Nambiar, R.G., 2007, November. The poultry industry in India. In Paper delivered at the FAO Conference on ‘Poultry in the 21st Century (pp. 5-7).

North, M.O. and Bell, D.D., 1990. Commercial chicken production manual.

Patel, B.H.M., Prasanna S.B. and Mahadevappa D. Gouri, 2015. Animal Welfare and Management. New India Publishing Agency, India.

Prabakaran, R., 2003. Good practices in planning and management of integrated commercial poultry production in South Asia.

Scanes, C.G., 2007. The global importance of poultry. Poultry science, 86(6), p.1057.

Sreenivasaiah, P.V., 2006. Scientific poultry production. IBH Prakashan.

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