PERFORMANCES AND ORGANOLEPTIC QUALITY OF VANARAJA CHICKEN UNDER DIFFERENT REARING SYSTEM

Abstract

A total of 120 day old chicks were utilized to evaluate the production performance of
Vanaraja chickens under different rearing systems viz. cage, deep litter and semi intensive
during 2009. The overall mean body weight, feed conversion ratio were recorded as
1323+28.02, 1238.12+46.02 and 1283.00+26.30 g; and 2.27, 2.44 and 2.05 for cage, deep
litter and semi intensive systems respectively. Overall feed conversion ratio (FCR), protein
efficiency ratio (PER) and energy efficiency ratio (EER) was significantly better (P<0.05) in
T3 group than T1 and T2 groups. The dressing percentage was found to be non- significant
among the groups. The weight of giblet, bursa and spleen were significantly (P<0.05) heavier
in T3 groups (reared in semi-intensive) than T1 (reared in cages) and T2 groups(reared in
deep litter). Net profit per bird in cage, deep litter and semi intensive systems was
Rs.18.87, Rs.12.40 and Rs.23.54 respectively. The results suggested that Vanaraja chickens
could be reared more economically in semi intensive system.
Key words: Vanaraja, Rearing systems, Carcass characteristics, Economics.