Abstract

    This study was conducted to examine performance and carcass characteristics of different varieties of first generation Desi chickens. The parent Desi chickens were procured from different villages of Mianwali and Bhakkar districts of Punjab, Pakistan and were maintained at Poultry Research Institute, Rawalpindi. Nine hundred day-old chicks (of the first progeny), 300 each of black, dark brown and light brown colour, were obtained from this parent flock. The birds in each variety were divided into 3 equal replicates. They were maintained in 9 separate pens on deep litter under optima.l managemental conditions. The birds were fed ad-libitum a chick starter ration from day-old to 8 weeks and then subsequently a grower mash upto 12 weeks of age. The birds had free access to clean and fresh drinking water. The results showed significant (p<0.0 I) variation in dressing percentage, shank and neck length and breast width between different varieties of Desi chickens, whereas, they differed non-significantly in growth rate and keel length. The light brown variety had significantly better dressing percentage, shank length and breast width than other two varieties. whereas neck length in both the brown varieties was significantly better than black Desi chickens. Both the brown varieties differed non-significantly from each other in neck length.

Key words: Desi chicken, varieties, growth rate, carcass yield