Influence of housing and dietary protein on performance trait of pure and crossbred Kadaknath hen

A 2x2x3 factorial design was utilized to study the influence of housing system, cage (H1) v/s deep litter (H2) and dietary protein levels 14% (P1), 16% (P2) and 18% (P3) on production performance of pure (G1) and crossbred (G2) Kadaknath hens. Three protein levels having 2500 kcal ME/kg diets were fed to experimental birds in two replicates (6 birds in each replicate) from 32 to 47 week of age. The performance was evaluated in terms of egg number, egg weight, % egg production and egg mass. Crossbred hens on an average produced 87.27 eggs (egg weight 49.5 g with egg mass 4327.54 g) in comparison to pure bred Kadaknath birds 76.83 eggs (egg weight 45.58 g and egg mass 3518.81 g). During the experiment period G1 and G2 hens produced 77.9% and 68.59% eggs, respectively. Caged birds laid significantly lesser eggs with lower egg mass than birds housed in deep litter system. The dietary protein levels of P2 and P3 supported better for production performance of both the genotype birds. Study revealed that the cross bred Kadaknath birds, deep litter housing system and 16% dietary protein exhibited better production performance.