Abstract

    This study was undertaken to examine effect of selection process of Desi field chickens on the productive performance of Desi progeny versus their parents maintained under deep litter system. For this purpose, 300 adult pullets (about 30 weeks-old) each of Desi parents and their first progeny were maintained in 4 separate pens on floor under optimal managemental conditions for experimental period of one year. The experimental birds were fed ad-libitum a balanced layer’s ration prepared at Nutrition Section of this Institute. They had free access to clean and fresh drinking water. 16 hours lighting schedule giving natural light supplemented with artificial light was followed. The results indicated significant (p<0.01) improvement in egg production, feed conversion efficiency and egg mass of Desi progeny in comparison to their parents which could be attributed to effect of breeding using selection process carried out in Desi parent. However, performance of Desi progeny in respect of egg size and mortality rate varied non-significantly from their parents. Based on the findings of this study it may be concluded that productive performance of Desi native chickens could be improved through breeding using selection technique.

Keywords: Productive performance, Desi chicken, progeny, selection process