Growth performance of different chicken breeds at high altitude of Leh-Iadakh region

This experiment was conducted to identify a suitable broiler chicken breed for ladakh region. In this study, 180 day old chicks from three breeds i.e., White Leghorn (WLH), Local, and their cross (WLH x Local breed) were taken and distributed to three groups i.e. G₁, G₂ and G₃ for a period of 30 weeks. All the chicks were provided the same basal diet which contained 3000 K cal ME and 22% CP. Mean body wt. of the day old chicks of each groups did not differ significantly, whereas after the 7th wks the mean body weight of the birds were significantly (P<0.05) higher in group G₃ as compared to G₁ and G₂ groups. In the same way, feed intake and feed conversion ratio (FCR) were significantly (P<0.05) lower in the G₃ group compared to other two groups. Mortality also observed lowest in G₃ group. In case of organ weight, liver and heart weight were significantly (P<0.05) higher in G₃ group compared to other two groups but no significant differences were observed in eviscerated weight, gizzard and shank weight. From the above study it may be concluded that cross breed (WLH x Local breed) is more suitable and more adaptable in Ladakh region.