“Backyard Poultry Farming” may be one of the effective tools to improve the socio-economic status of marginal farmers through employment and income generation, alleviating malnutrition besides reducing migration from rural to urban areas. Conservation of desi chicken and development of improved crosses for rural poultry has been one of the mandated activities of ICAR-Central Avian Research Institute, Izatnagar, Bareilly. CARI-NIRBHEEK has been one such premium germplasm developed in Indo-German Collaborative Project in 2000 at CARI and evaluated widely for backyard poultry production under different as well as harsh agro-climatic conditions in the country. After its farm testing at Institute, these birds were put to rigorous field evaluation during 2000-2003, with more than 9000 chicks in different states like Bihar, Gujarat, Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand. In continuation, during 2003-2004, CARI-NIRBHEEK birds were released by the Institute for commercial exploitation under scavenging/backyard system of poultry production.
The CARI-NIRBHEEK is dual type coloured indigenous chicken for egg and meat production. CARI-NIRBHEEK chicken variety addresses all the problems of backyard poultry production system viz predation, adverse climate, substandard nutrition, poor productivity etc due to hardy nature, coloured feather, longer shank, lighter /lean body, higher growth rate as well as immunity and better egg production capabilities etc. This bird has special attributes like majestic gait, high stamina, pugnacity and dogged fighting qualities which reduce predation problem under backyard conditions. They are well adapted to tropical and subtropical climates of the country. Among the dual type of backyard varieties, CARI-NIRBHEEK performs better in FCR, egg and meat production, and stress tolerance parameters. Further, due to attributes like adaptation, colored feather, anti-predation qualities, very low mortality etc., this bird is in high demand among farmers. Due to its better production potential under the backyard / smallholder production system, CARI-NIRBHEEK has been recognized by FAO & NLM as one of the crossbreds for tropical and sub-tropical climate of India.
Phenotypically, CARI-NIRBHEEK looks like Aseel Peela with plumage colour golden-red in males while golden-red to yellow in females. It’s skin and shank colour is yellow, whereas, the earlobe is red in males and red & white in females. The eye colour is predominantly black. These birds possess ‘pea comb’ of medium to large size, dark-red in males to small, light-red in females. Wattles are found only in males. Fighting instinct in males and broodiness in females are some unique traits of this variety. Males and females of this variety weigh around 1850 and 1350 g, respectively at 20 weeks of age. After attaining sexual maturity at about 170-180 days, females lay around 170-200 eggs of about 54g average weight. Recorded fertility, hatchability and liveability of these birds are around 88, 81 and 94%, respectively. The higher estimates of humoral and cellular immunity parameters indicate its better disease resistance ability.
After brooding (6-8 weeks) under ad lib feeding and vaccination with Marek’s, New Castle and Fowl Pox Diseases, the chicks of CARI NIRBHEEK may be sold to poultry farmers for semi intensive rearing system. The chicks may be reared in limited number of 5 to 25 birds depending on the open yard available in the vicinity for scavenging of the birds. Birds are let free for whole day for scavenging in the backyard/open field surrounding of the house. Night shelter with good ventilation and hygiene is to be provided for protection from the predators, which can be prepared from the low cost locally available materials. During first two-three days, birds should be provided sufficient feed (mixture of grains) and there after it should be gradually reduced to 35-40 g/bird/day with remaining feed from scavenging. But the quantity may be increased or decreased depending on the availability of natural feed resources in field, which depends on season and the rainfall. Now days many famers keep this bird in intensive system with 2000 to 5000 birds in confined shed with stall feeding. Availability of plenty of clean water round the clock is essential. Periodic de-worming at 2-3 months’ interval is required to be practiced to check parasitic infestation. It is also recommended that males should be sold or used for domestic consumption at the age of 15-20 weeks and new lot should be added in the flock. Benefit-cost ratio of 3:1 has been estimated for part time productivity which may be further increased with adequate feeding and management.
These are the choicest birds among farmers for backyard poultry and hence, adopted by farmers in almost 16 states of the country like Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Rajasthan, Haryana, Bihar, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Delhi, J&K, Manipur, W.B., Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana State etc. In last 20 years, more than 13.35 lakh germplasms have been supplied to various progressive farmers, Government and Non-Governmental Organizations of the country. The mango farmers of Eastern Uttar Pradesh have integrated rearing of CARI-NIRBHEEK with mango cultivation to get rid from various pests in orchard and reducing the cost of pesticides with more income generation through sale of mango, chicken egg & meat, and saved cost towards pesticides. As per the reports of ICAR-CISH, Lucknow, farmers had gained Benefit: Cost ratio of 4.64 by integrating rural poultry in mango orchard. In projects like Farmers First, Mera Gaon Mera Gaurav, RKVY,NLM, TSP, SCSP etc. of many ICAR Institutes, farmers have adopted backyard poultry farming using CARI-NIRBHEEK Germplasm with encouraging and satisfying outputs of additional income & nutritional security.
Progressive poultry farmers practicing backyard/scavenging farming willing to get Germplasm of CARI-NIRBHEEK may visit Institute’s website (https://cari.icar.gov.in)
or
Telephone Nos.91-581-2303223;2300204;2301220;2310023 or through email cari_director@rediffmail.com; director.cari@icar.gov.in; carisupply01@gmail.com
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