A study was undertaken on duck farming in a North-eastern part of India (Assam), representing almost all the agro-climatic zones. Five districts were selected, one from each agro-climatic zone except for the hill area. Twenty-five duck farmers from each district, a total of 125 in all, were selected on the basis of flock size. Results of the study in respect of socio-economic status of the farmer, demographic distribution, husbandry and feeding practice, production performance, incidence of diseases, mortality pattern and health protection programmes, marketing, finance and costs and returns from the flocks are highlighted.

No abstract

A study was conducted covering a total of one hundred chicken farmers in tribal dominated Boko Block of Kamrup district in Assam to assess different productive and reproductive traits of Desi, Vanaraja and Srinidhi birds under field condition. Information was obtained on mean body weight at various ages, age at first egg, annual egg production, fertility and hatchability and mortality rate. Body weight, egg production and egg weight were significantly (P0.05) higher in Vanaraja and Srinidhi birds compared to Desi chicken. The age at first egg was significantly (P0.05) higher in Desi chicken while compared with Vanaraja and Srinidhi under traditional system of management. However no significant (P0.05) difference was found between Vanaraja and Srinidhi in their body weight and egg production at various ages. Higher mortality percent in Vanaraja (12.23±1.62) and Srinidhi (11.34±1.23) were recorded during 0 to 5 week. No significant (P0.05) differences were found among all three groups of birds in fertility and hatchability.

The present study was conducted to evaluate the effect of a Commercial Herbal Growth Promoter (CHGP) with a combination of selective nine numbers of herbs on the performance of broiler chicken. A total of 120 day-old commercial broiler chicks having similar body weight from a single hatch were procured and chicks were randomly distributed into four groups viz, T 0 (standard basal diet as control), T 1 (basal diet + 1.0 % CHGP powder), T 2 (basal diet + 2.0 % CHGP powder) and T 3 (basal diet + 3.0 % CHGP powder) comprising 30 chicks in each groups. All the birds were managed under uniform managemental condition. The final body weight was significantly (P£0.01) highest in T 2 (2059.83 g) followed by T 3 (1956.67 g), T 0 (1845.33 g) and T 1 (1825.17 g). In respect of overall Feed Conversion Ratios (FCR), T 2 group showed significantly (P£0.05) best FCR value of 1.69 followed by T 3 (1.77), T 0 (1.85) and T 1 (1.87). The study revealed that there was increased body weight, improved FCR, higher BPEI, cent per cent livability and increased gross profit per broiler in birds offered 2% CHGP powder as herbal growth promoter.

A biological trial was conducted to investigate the effect of feeding garlic (Allium sativum) powder as prebiotic on the performance of broiler chicken. A total of 144 numbers of day old broiler chicks with uniform body weight were randomly divided into four groups viz, T 0 (Standard basal diet as control), T 1 (basal diet + 0.5 percent garlic powder), T 2 (basal diet + 1.0 percent garlic powder) and T 3 (basal diet + 1.5 percent garlic powder) comprising 36 chicks in each group. The final body weight was significantly (P≤0.05) higher in T 2 group (2175.00g) followed by T 3 (2008.3g), T 1 (1986.11g) and T 0 (1904.86g). In respect of overall FCR, the T2 group showed the best FCR value of 1.67 followed by T 3 (1.74), T 0 (1.78) and T 1 (1.80). The study revealed that there was increased body weight, improved FCR, highest BPEI and cent percent livability and higher gross profit per bird offered with 1.0 percent garlic powder in feed.