Himsamridhi: A rural chicken variety developed for Sub-Temperate Himalayan regions
SURUCHI SHARMA*1, SAHIL SHARMA2, RISHIKA VIJ1 and GEETANJALI SINGH1
1Department of Veterinary Physiology and Biochemistry, DGCN COVAS, CSKHPKV, Palampur, 2Department of Animal Nutrition, DGCN COVAS, CSKHPKV, Palampur
*Corresponding author’s email: suruchis91@gmail.com
The important aspect in poultry farming in rural areas is backyard poultry farming. Indigenous breeds of chicken are suitable for sustainable farming practices. The eggs from native genotypes match the quality of commercial product (Lordelo et al. 2020). Indigenous/native breed of poultry has ability to tolerate harsh environmental conditions. They play a major role for the rural, poor and marginalised section of the people with respect to their subsidiary income and also provide them with nutritious chicken egg and meat for their own consumption (Padhi, 2016).
The local chicken also has a potential for upgrading through cross breeding with improved commercial birds to increase meat and egg production. Cross breeding local chickens to Dahlem Red and Rhode Island Red produces a superior breed to local ecotype in terms of egg traits, hatchability and survivability. Such superiority can be exploited to upgrade the genetic potential of local ecotype and thus improve poultry production. Crossbred birds are suitable for dual purpose backyard poultry production, egg production and it’s quality is also improved.
An avian egg is a highly integrated biological system. The nutritive value and functional properties of an egg makes it an important item in human diet. Eggs and egg products form an integral part of the food chain. It is the only animal protein source in developing countries that is available to the general population. Egg is source of protein, liposoluble vitamins A, D, E, K, vitamin B-complex such as cyanocobalamin, thiamine, riboflavin, niacin and pyridoxine. Among minerals; it contains iron, calcium, potassium, sodium, phosphorous and zinc. Egg is also an important source of dietary cholesterol which increases serum cholesterol that ultimately causes the appearance of coronary diseases. The association of cholesterol with coronary diseases has raised the concerns by the consumer and somewhat lowered its consumption in a certain section of society (Bragagnolo et al. 2002). The consumption of cholesterol rich food by diabetic patients, cancer carriers and hypercholesterolemia patients can raise the risk of coronary diseases. Egg yolk has a high concentration of lipids (Aquino et al. 2010). Besides, biochemical components, an important role is played by the physical characteristics of egg in the processes of embryo development and successful hatching. An avian egg is chemical and mechanical power house as it contains ingredients for life within it. The requirements for embryo’s development are met by the average values of the physical characteristics of the egg (Narushin and Romanov, 2002).
Himsamridhi: Generally abbreviated as DND developed by crossing ((DR*Native)*DR)
Himsamridhi is a dual purpose breed which have coloured attractive reddish brown plumage (Figure 1). These bird starts to lay eggs early, perform better upon low nutrient diet, have good growth, early feathering, good escaping ability and better adaptability to agro climatic conditions of Himachal Pradesh. At 20 weeks of age birds weigh around 1500 – 2000 grams. Age at first egg is 24 weeks and hens lays larger eggs weighing around 52-55 grams at 40 weeks of age which are brown-shelled. Under backyard system birds lay 140-150 eggs and under farm conditions birds lay 180 eggs which are due to better management conditions under farm conditions. Himsamridhi is a crossbred bird suitable for backyard poultry production and egg production as compared to pure exotic breeds like Dahlem Red and Rhode Island Red. For developing this breed local native poultry germplasm and several improved stocks were evaluated for adaptability performance and suitability to meet farmer’s requirements. The 2-way and back crosses were developed. The crossbred stock ((Dahlem Red *Native)* Dahlem Red) which is location specific for sub-temperate Himalayan regions was developed using indigenous/native chicken having 25 per cent native inheritance and Dahlem Red having 75 per cent native inheritance. This breed was developed at Department of Animal Genetics and Breeding, College of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, CSKHPKV, Palampur. As this breed provides good feedback on performance, this breed is well-adapted by the farmers. Through egg and meat this crossbred can provide nutrition and higher supplementary income to tribal and rural people as well as in remote areas (Sankhyan and Thakur, 2018; www.icar.org.in). For a long time, local chicken breeds were crossed with exotic breeds to enhance their productivity and retaining their adaptability to local environment.
Figure 1 shows Himsamridhi birds
Himsamridhi a crossbred when compared to Dahlem Red which is an exotic pure breed it was found that egg weight, egg length, egg breadth, egg shell weight, total egg surface, yolk weight, albumen weight and albumen volume were higher in Dahlem Red whereas egg shape index, egg shell ratio and Haugh unit were higher in Himsamridhi breed. Some superior parameters such as higher total proteins, higher total glucose, lower total cholesterol and lower total lipids in eggs, higher hatchability and higher chick survivability were found in Himsamridhi breed when compared to Dahlem Red breed (Sharma et al. 2021). Moreover, due to low total cholesterol and low total lipid in eggs of Himsamridhi breed as compared to Dahlem Red breed there will be better marketability of Himsamridhi eggs for consumption.
Village poultry farming is the mainspring of poultry farming in Himachal Pradesh. Himsamridhi is well-adapted to local agro-climatic conditions of Himachal Pradesh and is readily accepted as stock of choice for backyard/rural poultry farming. There will be increase demand of these birds because they provide better returns. Further production potential can be increased by better management, ventilation, feed supplementation, suitable housing and periodic health monitoring (Sankhyan and Thakur, 2018).
References
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Sharma S, Singh G, Vij R, Sankhyan V and Dinesh K. 2021. Physical and biochemical characterization of Eggs of Chicken Crossbreed and Its Comparison with Dahlem Red for Rural Poultry Development. Asian Journal of Dairy and Food Research. DOI: 10.18805/ajdfr.DR-1656.
www.icar.org.in
