Vol. 10, Special Issue 7 (2021)

Author(s):
Sudhir N, Jayanaik, Basavraj Inamdar, V Malathi and CR Gopinath

Abstract:
The study was carried out to characterize the indigenous chicken of Gulbarga division of Karnataka state. Several villages of every selected district were surveyed to collect and document information with regard to managemental practices, phenotypic characteristics and production performance under field conditions. The average flock size observed in entire division was 14.69. The percentages of separate housing facilities created for native birds were (18.06%) in Bidar, (23.23%) in Gulbarga and (16.78%) in Koppala. The percentage of farmers providing extra grains in addition to scavenging were (65.94%) in Bidar, (73.33%) in Gulbarga and (70.97%) in Koppala. The average marketing age of males was 7.60±0.03 and of females was 10.31±0.04 months. The average egg production per cycle was 14.87±0.04 and average number of cycles per year estimated was 2.19±0.02. The average egg production of the entire division was 44.84±0.07. All the birds were normal feathered. The predominant plumage color and pattern observed was multicolour and solid in males, and brown and dull in females, respectively. The skin and shanks were yellow colored in majority of the birds. All the observed birds had red ear lobes and majority had brown eyes. Most of the birds had wattles and were single combed. This study revealed distinctive variations among the birds of three districts of Gulbarga division, providing the basis for further characterization of these native birds.