- Local germplasm of chicken from Rajasthan was collected, purified, characterized and registered as “Mewari breed” of Indigenous chicken.
- Four varieties of rural chicken viz; Pratapdhan, Kamrupa, Narmadanidhi and Jharsim were developed using indigenous and exotic germplasm.
- Pratapdhan: AICRP on Poultry Breeding, MPUAT, Udaipur has developed a dual purpose chicken variety to cater the needs of rural poultry keepers coined as Pratapdhan which resembles local birds of Rajasthan. It lays brown eggs weighing around 52 g. The average adult body weight ranged from 1.4 to 3 kg in males and 1.2 to 2.7k g in females. It has higher egg production of 161 eggs which is 274% higher than local native (43 eggs).
- Kamrupa is a multi-coloured bird for rural poultry production developed under All India Coordinated Research Project on Poultry Breeding at Assam Agriculture University, Khanapara, Guwahati, Assam. It is three way cross developed using Assam local ecotype, Coloured Broiler and Dahlem Red population. Under backyard system, the adult body weight ranged from 1.3-1.5 kg , respectively. The male birds weigh 1.8-2.2 kg at 40 weeks of age the annual egg production is 118-130 eggs with an egg weight of 52 grams.
- Narmadanidhi developed at AICRP centre Jabalpur has 25% inheritance of native i.e. local breed Kadaknath and 75% of improved broiler germplasm (Jabalpur col.). Dual purpose col. bird ‘Narmadanidhi’ is thus and outcome of specific breeding approaches aiming to utilize maximum heterosis, higher potential in the progeny. Adult body weight ranged from 1.5 to 2.2 kg in males and 1.3 to 1.7 kg in females. The annual egg production is 181 eggs in backyard having brown shell egg weighing up to 50.2g.
- Jharsim: The dual purpose rural variety Jharsim has attractive multi-colour plumage, perform better on low plane of nutrition, faster growth, optimum egg production and better adaptability to agro climatic conditions of Jharkhand. The adult body weight and annual egg production was up to 1.8 kg and 130 eggs, respectively in field condition. The egg weight is 52-55g at 40 weeks of age.
Germplasm supply: A total of about 92 lakhs of commercial/improved rural chicken germplasm was distributed to farmers across the country from different AICRP Centre.