SUMMARY

Kadaknath is the most popular native chicken breed of India. This breed is experiencing higher demand due to its unique characteristics and perceived health benefits of its meat and eggs. The entire bird including plumage, skin, shank, and internal organs is black. The black colour of this bird is due to hyperpigmentation associated with the fibromelanosis character. Three varieties of the Kadaknath breed have been identified based primarily on plumage colour: jet black, pencilled and golden. Kadaknath is a small-sized bird with small shanks (51.5 mm at 8 weeks). It attains the body weight of 865 g at 20 weeks. Cocks and hens weigh about 1500 and 1200 g, respectively, at 40 weeks. The average age at first egg is high (185 days) and the egg production potential of this breed is somewhat less (50 to 55 eggs in 40 weeks). Egg production up to 52 weeks was 90 to 105 eggs and the annual egg production is estimated to be in the range of 120 to 140 eggs. This breed has good fertility (80 to 85%) and hatchability (83 to 90%) status. Eggs are small in size (42 to 45 g) but have good shell quality (10.47% shell) with light brown to brown coloured shells, and low yolk to albumen ratio (0.51). Consumers prefer Kadaknath meat due to its desirable flavour and lean meat (0.11 to 0.52% abdominal fat) as compared to broiler meat (1.74 to 1.85% abdominal fat). Increased demand for healthier meat among consumers has led to the rearing of Kadaknath birds in intensive and semi-intensive systems around the major cities in India. The current paper describes the growth, production, and reproduction performance, status of immune-competence, carcase characteristics, meat quality, egg quality traits and future research needs of the Kadaknath breed.

概括

Kadaknath 是印度最受欢迎的本土鸡品种。由于其独特的特性以及肉和蛋对健康的益处，该品种正经历着更高的需求。包括羽毛、皮肤、小腿和内脏在内的整只鸟都是黑色的。这只鸟的黑色是由于与纤维黑色素病特征相关的色素沉着过度。主要根据羽毛颜色确定了三种卡达克纳特品种：墨黑色、铅笔状和金色。Kadaknath 是一种小腿的小型鸟类（8 周时为 51.5 毫米）。它在 20 周时达到 865 克的体重。公鸡和母鸡在 40 周时分别​​重约 1500 和 1200 克。第一个鸡蛋的平均年龄很高（185 天），该品种的产蛋潜力稍低（40 周内可产 50 至 55 个鸡蛋）。长达 52 周的产蛋量为 90 到 105 个蛋，年产蛋量估计在 120 到 140 个蛋的范围内。该品种具有良好的繁殖力（80 至 85%）和孵化率（83 至 90%）状态。鸡蛋体积小（42 至 45 克），但具有良好的壳质（10.47% 的壳），壳呈浅棕色至棕色，蛋黄与蛋白的比率较低（0.51）。与肉鸡（1.74 至 1.85% 的腹部脂肪）相比，消费者更喜欢 Kadaknath 肉，因为它具有令人满意的风味和瘦肉（0.11 至 0.52% 的腹部脂肪）。消费者对更健康肉类的需求增加导致在印度主要城市周围的集约化和半集约化系统中饲养 Kadaknath 鸟类。当前论文描述了生长、生产和繁殖性能、免疫能力状态、胴体特征、肉质、