Countless instances show how minor, inexpensive but relevant and technically-sound concepts can help improve rural livelihoods. A novel way of incubating quail eggs in the Andaman Islands and the introduction of a new poultry breed in the Kashmir valley can be notable cases in point.
Quail meat and its eggs are considered culinary delights in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. The recent discovery of health benefits from them, especially their therapeutic impact on blood cholesterol, has led to a significant increase in the demand for these products. But their availability is not good enough to meet the growing requirement, though most rural households do keep a few quails along with hen in their backyards.
This is chiefly because quail eggs are difficult to incubate since quail pullets are poor brooders. Even small-scale commercial quail breeders face this problem and have to travel to Port Blair to use the mechanical incubator available at the Central Agricultural Research Institute to get the eggs hatched.
The way out, conceived by the Port Blair-based Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVK or agricultural science centre), is incredibly simple and virtually cost-free. The KVK suggested that quail farmers put quail eggs along with one or two poultry eggs under a hen for brooding. Unable to distinguish between the two kinds of eggs, hens normally sit over all the eggs till they hatch.
The only catch here is that quail eggs usually hatch two to three days before hen eggs, exposing the newly hatched chicks to the risk of being stamped on by the brooding hen. To prevent this, the quail chicks need to be removed from the brooding basket and kept in a container fitted with an electric bulb to provide them the necessary warmth.
This system is now catching on. It not only allows quail eggs to be incubated at farmers’ own premises but, more significantly, also reduces mortality of infant chicks during transportation from the Institute’s incubator back to the villages which, at times, could be as high as 50 per cent. In the case of virtual natural brooding through hens, as suggested by the KVK, the death rate comes down by half.
In the Kashmir valley, on the other hand, the problem backyard poultry farmers face is slightly different. The local (desi) birds that they normally keep in their homesteads are inherently poor egg yielders. The broiler chicks too are slow to gain body weight, resulting in low chicken meat output.
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To overcome this problem, the KVK in the Budgam district decided to introduce the Vanaraja poultry breed in this region. Vanaraja is a multi-coloured, dual-purpose breed (meant for both meat and egg production) developed specifically for backyard rearing. Male Vanaraja chicks normally gain adequate weight in about eight weeks to get ready for slaughter. The females lay relatively more eggs in a year. In recent years, this breed has been introduced in many other states, with good results.
The objective behind this move has been to introduce a more productive bird in the valley as well as genetically improve the local breed through crossbreeding at the local level. It is worth noting that the eggs of Vanaraja birds can be incubated along with the eggs by desi fowls without any hitch.
The results of this intervention have been spectacular. Not only have Vanaraja birds adapted well to the local conditions, but they, as also the offspring produced through their crossbreeding with the local birds, have proved far superior to the desi birds as egg-layers and broilers. In fact, the rate of hatching and survival of chicks of the Vanaraja breed has turned out to be better than that of the local birds. Vanaraja on maturity weighed, on average, 3.2 kg, against a little over 1 kg in the case of local birds. Similarly, the egg production in Vanaraja has been found to be nearly double that of the local hen. Vanaraja birds and eggs are now in great demand in this region since other poultry farmers too want to include them among their own poultry flocks.
The KVKs can only show the way and demonstrate the effectiveness of their initiatives. It is for other agencies, including state agriculture and extension departments, to carry them forward.