Studies on growth pattern and gain in body weight in Kadaknath breed of poultry in their the native breeding tract

The studies on growth pattern and gain in body weight were conducted under ICAR ad hoc project on Kadaknath breed of poultry available in Jhabua district of western Madhya Pradesh. The overall weekly average body weights recorded under field conditions from 0 to 4 weeks, 6 to 20 weeks and 6 to 12 months of age ranged from 27.59±0.17 to 111.45±1.43, 167.65±1.81 to 867.64±5.54 and 1003.20±5.97 to 1533.81±7.16 g respectively under field conditions. The average weekly gain in body weight during phase-I (0–4 weeks), phase-II (4–20 weeks) and phase-III (20–48 weeks) were 20.83±2.83, 47.58±2.09 and 22.22±1.04 g respectively. The differences in gain in body weights during different periods between two districts were highly significant (P≤0.01). The Kadaknath birds attain 1 kg body weight between 6 to 7 months of age and the birds reached around 1.5 kg by 1 year of age. The growth trends in both sexes showed linear increase in body weights; however the rate of increase in body weights were higher from 6 to 52 weeks of age in males as compared to females, thus showing clear sex-dimorphism. The differences in body weights of male and females were significant (P≤0.05).