Sexual dimorphism, egg laying and egg weight in ostriches (Struthio camelus) reared under Indian conditions

Ostriches are being reared in India from 2000 onwards. The data on reproductive performance recorded over a period of seven years (2002 - 2008) were analysed. Ostriches revealed sexual dimorphism at an age of around 270 days and the mean age of sexual maturity observed was 787.8 ± 29.9 days. The average annual egg production over seven years of study was 18.6 ± 2.9, 35.1 ± 4.9, 34.4 ± 5.8, 28.7 ± 4.6, 32.5 ± 5.0, 26 ± 5.4 and 25.1 ± 3.4 per female and no significant variations were observed. The mean egg weight during this period was 1480.02 ± 56.35 g and the effect of year of production was significant (P < 0.01). The egg weight progressively increased from 1161.1 ± 30.90 g to 1663.23 ± 37.02 g. Egg production was observed during all months of the year with maximum number of eggs recorded in the month of January 384 (13.3%) followed by 326 (11.3%) in December and the lowest of 163 eggs (5.6%) during May. The total number of eggs produced during the seven year period was 2886 at the rate of 412 eggs per year at a laying rate of 29.2 ± 4.6 eggs per hen. The result of this study reveals that the reproductive performances of ostriches are quite comparable and the birds had adapted to the Indian conditions