Importance of Indigenous Breeds of Chicken for Rural Economy and Their Improvements for Higher Production Performance

Table 1

Effect of crossbreeding using indigenous birds with respect to feed conversion ratio, slaughter parameters, weight gain, and Heterophils/Lymphocytes (H/L) ratio.

Traits	Cross	Cross performance	Indigenous performance	Country	References
FCR	TI × (R × PR)	Better than indigenous	—	Thailand	[20]
	SB × BN	2.61	2.98	India	[21]
	SB × WN	3.52	3.12
Slaughter wt.	TI × PR	1.48 kg	1.28 kg	Thailand	[22]
Dressing%	-do-	62.4	65.8	-do-
Lean : bone ratio	-do-	1.09	1.23	-do-
n6 : n3 fatty acid thigh	-do-	14.33	9.77	-do-
Daily wt. gain of 4 wk	Thai indigenous cross	M = 25.24, F = 19.53	M = 19.52, F = 10.24	Thailand	[23]
H : L ratio	TI × (R × PR)	M = 0.37, F = 0.33	M = 0.32, F = 0.33	Thailand	[24]

F: female, M: male, R: Rhode Island Red, BN: Black Nicobari, PR: Plymouth rock, SB: synthetic broiler, TI: Thai indigenous, WN: White Nicobari, H : L: Heterophils : Lymphocytes, -do-: same as above, and n6 : n3: omega 6 to omega 3 fatty acid ratio.