Vol. 9, Special Issue 7 (2020)

Author(s):
Pruthwiraj Parida, Kumaresh Behera, Lakshman Kumar Babu, Kamdev Sethy and Chinmoy Mishra

Abstract:
A study was conducted on 60 no’s of Aseel broiler chicks reared in deep litter system. The birds were reared in three treatment groups. Different groups were trained for different time period. Social hierarchy and behavior among the three groups were assessed on the basis of Dominance Tests. The tests included Food running test, Aggression test and Runway test. The comparative evaluation among different social dominance test revealed that in food running test Group-3 (65.00%) birds showed the best performance followed by Group-1 (50.83%) and 2 (42.50%) which may be due to better response and easier stabilization of social hierarchy than rest of two groups. In aggression test, Group-2 birds showed significantly less response as compared to Group-2 and Group-3 which may be due to gradual training leads to less agonistic behaviour. There was no statistically significant difference observed between Group-2 and Group-3 birds in aggression test. In run way test no statistical difference was observed among the different groups but Group-3 birds showed a numerically better performance (60.00%) than Group-2 (56.25%) followed by Group-1 (52.25%) due to common training schedule. This study also revealed that social order usually develops in a gradual manner so that the birds will find their own niche in the hierarchy. A gradual increment in training schedule from first week onwards results in better and quicker establishment of social niche due to easier stabilization of social hierarchy.