eChapters

Introduction

In the present, India is food secure due to our self-sufficiency in foodgrains, but still,we have to achieve the goal of nutritional security. The horticulture sector is the one which alsoescapes the weather shocks and has the potential to help in poverty alleviation, nutritional security. Again, it has ample scope for farmers to increase their income and helpful in sustaining a large number of agro-based industries which generate a large number of employment opportunities besides helping to achieve the national goal of 4.0 per cent agricultural growth. India with more than 28.2 million tonnes of fruits and 66 million tonnes of vegetables, is the second largest producer of fruits and vegetables in the world, next only to Brazil and China.Onshares, the world fruit production is 11% and vegetables 7%.

Introduction

Hi Tech horticulture is synonymous to cultivation of commercial horticultural crops using advanced scientific technology to make more profit. India is acclaimed globally for production of high value horticultural crops but there productivity is less as compared to many countries. One of the main reasons for low productivity is poor water and nutrient management. The Task Force on Agricultural Development constituted by the National Institution for Transforming India (NITI) Aayog, Government of India in March 2015 has suggested to increase productivity, progress is required along three dimensions: (i) Quality and judicious use of inputs such as water, seeds, fertilizer and pesticides; (ii) judicious and safe exploitation of modern technology; and (iii) shift into high value commodities such as fruits, vegetables, flowers, etc. (Anonymous, 2015).  Hi tech horticulture meeting the entire requirement as suggested by the task force.

Water is the most critical component of life system. Irrigation plays vital role in rising and stabilizing yield and maintaining quality of fruit crops grown in tropical or sub-tropical climate. Micro irrigation is one of the modern and advanced methods of irrigation which is becoming popular in areas having problems like water scarcity and poor quality of water. Since the competition for water between agricultural and non-agricultural sector is increasing day by day, the efficient management of water resources is very essential to meet the water requirement. It is anticipated to reduce water use for agriculture by 70% in the coming decade, where the present day share is 80%. Demand for water is increasing in non-agricultural sectors like industry, energy, domestic use etc. Hence, policy makers and researchers consider water as the main obstacle for growing enough food crops in the coming years. In India where population is increasing at alarming rate, the area under irrigation should go up from 60 million hectares to 114 million hectares by the year 2050. In this context, micro irrigation plays a major role under limiter water agro ecosystem.

Water is most essential thing to sustain life for plants, human and animals. In fact, land and water are the two important natural resources, which play an important role in horticulture production. Irrigation is the lifeline for any crop production. As Pomegranate is mostly grown under water scarce regions of India, so utilization of available water more effective and efficient irrigation system is need along micro-irrigation system offers the way of using water in a most judicious fashion for irrigation purpose. It is based on the elementary concept on irrigating root zone rather than entire land surface which results in higher water use efficiency and improved crop yield. This technique is now being used to mitigate water scare situation in the pomegranate growing regions of the country in enormous way.

Introduction

In the environment of dwindling water resources and contention of the other sectors, the share of water allocated to irrigation is likely to be decreased by 10 to 15 per cent in the next two decades. One of the ways of improving water scarcity is by enhancing its use efficiency or productivity. Water use efficiency (WUE) is a broad concept that can be defined in many ways. For farmers or farm irrigators, WUE is the yield of harvested crop produce achieved from the available water to the crop from irrigation, rainfall and soil water storage. Improving WUE in pomegranate will be required an increasing in pomegranate water productivity (i.e. an increasing marketable yield per unit of water used by plants and reduction in water losses from the root zone (Chopde and Gorantiwar, 1998; Chopde et al., 2001; Intrigoli et al., 2011). For comprehensive improvement of WUE, it is necessary to raise the following ratios to their maximum: stored soil water content/water received through rainfall and irrigation, transpiration/water consumption, biomass yield/transpiration, water consumption/soil water storage and economic benefit/biomass yield (Frederick, 1993).

Bakery Industry

Baked goods have been around for thousands of years. The art of baking was developed early during the Roman Empire. It was a highly famous art as Roman citizens loved baked goods and demanded for them frequently for important occasions such as feasts and weddings etc. Due to the fame and desire that the art of baking received, around 300 BC, baking was introduced as an occupation and respectable profession for Romans. The bakers began to prepare bread at home in an oven, using mills to grind grain into the flour for their breads. The oncoming demand for baked goods vigorously continued and the first bakers’ guild was established in 168 BC in Rome. This drastic appeal for baked goods promoted baking all throughout Europe and expanded into the eastern parts of Asia. Bakers started baking breads and goods at home and selling them out on the streets.

This trend became common and soon, baked products were getting sold in streets of Rome, Germany, London and many more. This resulted in a system of delivering the goods to households, as the demand for baked breads and goods significantly increased. This provoked the bakers to establish a place where people could purchase baked goods for themselves. Therefore, in Paris, the first open-air bakery of baked goods was developed and since then, bakeries became a common place to purchase delicious goods and get together around the world. By the colonial era, bakeries were commonly viewed as places to gather and socialize.^[2] World War II directly affected bread industries in the UK. Baking schools closed during this time so when the war did eventually end there was an absence of skilled bakers. This resulted in new methods being developed to satisfy the world’s desire for bread. Methods like: adding chemicals to dough, premixes and specialized machinery. Unfortunately these old methods of baking were almost completely eradicated when these new methods were introduced and became industrialized. The old methods were seen as unnecessary and financially unsound, during this period there were not many traditional bakeries left.

Bakery is a traditional activity and occupies an important place in food processing industry. The bakery manufacturers in India can be differentiated into the three broad segments of bread, biscuits and cake. About 1.3 million tonnes of the bakery products industry in India is in the organized sector out of 3 millions tonnes, while the balance comprises of unorganized, small-scale local manufacturers. Though, there are sufficient automatic and semi-automatic bread as well as biscuit manufacturing units in India but there are still number of people prefer fresh bread and other products from the local bakery. After entry of Pizza and Burgers’ MNCs in the country, people are changing their tastes also. Today, they are not restricted to bread, cake and biscuits but to other bakery products also. The consumers are increasingly going for newer options with respect to bakery products. With the ventures of few Companies like Britannia, Biskfarm, and Morish etc. competition has increased. Also, the Indian market is witnessing the proliferation of bakery cafe chains in the form of Baristacafe, coffee day, Café Coffee & Monginis etc.

Armed with better technology, know-how and novel ideas, these foreign companies have made rapid inroads into the lucrative market within a very short span of time. Though the demand for bakery products in India has always been on the rise, there is clearly a lack of awareness and the will to break new ground, which has helped global players to gain brownie points while exploring the market in India. The unorganized sector accounts for about half of the total biscuit production estimated at 1.5 million tonnes. It also accounts for 85 per cent of the total bread production and around 90 per cent of the other bakery products estimated at 0.6 million tonnes. The last includes pastries, cakes, buns, rusks and others.

Types of Bakery Products

Baked goods are produced from either doughs or batters which are a mixture of flour and water made by mixing, beating, kneading or folding. The processing method depends on the ingredients being used and the product being made. Bread is either leavened or unleavened. Leavened bread is made from a mixture of flour, yeast, salt and water. Unleavened bread does not contain yeast and therefore does not rise. It is flat bread that is quicker to make than yeast-bread.

Baking is no different from any other area of cooking, and as in other sectors only the best and the freshest raw material can guarantee good results. So selection of right kind of ingredients is of utmost importance. Another basic need of a professional baker and confectioner is to purchase the equipment required. The design and size depends upon the volume of sale expected. So in this chapter we are going to learn about the ingredients required for running a bakery.

The word biscuit is derived from Danis biscoctus which is Latin for twice cooked bread and refers to bread rusks that were made for mariners (ships biscuits) since the Middle Ages. The dough pieces were baked and then dried out in another cooler oven. All biscuits are made with flour (usually wheat flour) and all have low moisture content and thereby have long shelf life if protected from moisture and oxygen. It includes items also known as crackers (that make a noise of cracking when broken), Hard sweet and semi –sweet biscuits, cookies (which is the name that originated from Dutch word koekje meaning a small cake) and wafers, which are baked between hot plates from a fluid batter. The name cookie was adopted in North America where the term ‘biscuit’ can be confused with small soda raised breads or muffins. In other countries the term cookie is used primarily for wire cut products of rather rough shape, which often contain large pieces of various ingredients such as nuts, etc. The term ‘biscuit’ is used in Britain to describe a flat, crisp, baked product; the term cookie is reserved for something softer and thicker. Cookies are made from soft wheat flour and are characterized by formula high in sugar and shortening and relatively low in water. Similar product is known as biscuit in our country. In USA the term ‘cookie’ covers any flat, crisp, baked good. Cracker is a term reserved for biscuit of low sugar and fat content, frequent bland or savoury. Crackers are usually made from developed dough whereas cookies are made from weaker flour. These foods have in common their ability to stay palatable for a long period of time. Their ease of transportation and their ready consumption without any further preparation make them high on the list of staple snacks

Cakes are sweet baked products characterized by high level of sugar in the formulation and hence are foods of high calorific value. Among the various ingredient used flour, sugar, shortening and egg are the essential ingredients for cake manufacture. The optional ingredients are baking powder, milk, fruit etc. For cake manufacture the selection of ingredients is of paramount importance.

All bread is made by baking a dough that has two basic ingredients, flour or meal and a liquid. Bakers can use a wide variety of both components. The most common type of flour used for bread and most other baked goods is made from wheat. Wheat flour has a pleasant taste and contains a large amount of an elastic protein substance called gluten. Gluten aids in baking uniformly light bread that rises (swells) properly. Other baking flours are made from barley, rye, corn, rice, oats, soybeans, and potatoes. These flours, particularly soybean flour, may equal wheat nutritionally, but none can match wheat for creating light, even-textured bread. Hard wheat flour makes lighter bread than does soft wheat flour because it is richer in gluten. Rye and whole wheat breads are made lighter by adding white flour. The liquids used in baking include water, sweet or sour milk, yogurt, wine, and beer.

Bread is either leavened or unleavened. Leavened breads contain some substance that produces bubbles of carbon-dioxide gas. These gas bubbles inflate the dough, causing it to rise and become light and porous. Most kinds of basic breads are leavened with a fungus called yeast. Biscuits, muffins, and cakes and other pastries are leavened with either baking powder or baking soda. Unleavened bread is dry and hard. Familiar kinds of unleavened breads include water crackers, the rye crisp of Sweden, and Jewish matzoth. Whether leavened or unleavened, most breads contain other ingredients in addition to flour and a liquid. An almost limitless variety of breads can be made by adding a sweetener, shortening, cheese, eggs, meat, fruit, vegetables, seeds, or nuts. A sweetener, either sugar or syrup, is used in almost all bread for its taste or as an aid to yeast growth. Bread may also have an external sweetener in the form of a decorative glaze. The high fat content of shortening and cheese increase tenderness and flakiness in bread. Perhaps the best example is the French croissant. Eggs help leaven bread dough by adding to the bread’s lightness. They can be brushed on top of the dough before baking to create a shiny crust, as in the Jewish hallah. Some breads from many nations contain fruit, a vegetable, meat, seeds, or nuts. Examples include the fruit scone of Great Britain, the spinach paratha of India, the Southern sausage bread of the United States, the Easter sesame bread of Greece, and the almond sweet bread of Finland.

Various types of equipment are needed and used to facilitate the process of baking. Depending upon the use, equipment may be as light equipment and heavy equipment.

The raw material of foremost importance in bakery product is the wheat flour. Bakery units prefer the flour obtained by milling in roller flourmill with 70– 72 percent extraction. Flour quality may be defined as the ability of the flour to produce an attractive end product at competitive cost, under conditions imposed by the end product manufacturing unit. The concept of quality differs from producer and consumer point of view. However, in general, the term quality may refer to fitness of a raw material or a product for a particular process or consumer. For a consumer, the following parameters are important criteria of a product quality.

Sugar confectionery and chocolate includes candies (sweets in British English), candied nuts, chocolates, chewing gum, bubble gum, pastillage, and other confections that are made primarily of sugar. In some cases, chocolate confections (confections made of chocolate) are treated as a separate category, as are sugar-free versions of sugar confections. The words candy (US and Canada), sweets (UK and Ireland), and lollies (Australia and New Zealand) are common words for the most common varieties of sugar confectionery. Confectionery depends on numerous ingredients which have been discussed in detailed in this chapter

Chocolate is a key ingredient in many foods such as milk shakes, candy bars, cookies and cereals. It is ranked as one of the most favourite flavours in North America and Europe. Despite its popularity, most people do not know the unique or igins of this popular treat. Chocolate is a product that requires complex procedures to produce. The process involves harvesting coca, refining coca to cocoa beans, and shipping the cocoa beans to the manufacturing factory for cleaning, conching and grinding. These cocoa beans will then be imported or exported to other countries and be transformed into different type of chocolate products.

In history, 1828 marked the “modern era” of chocolate making when Dutch chocolate maker Conrad J. van Houten patented an inexpensive method for pressing the fat from roasted cacao beans along with other processes to create a fine powder known as “cocoa”. The powder was then treated with alkaline salt that helped the powder mix with water easily. The creation of powdered chocolate made it easier to mix with water, sugar and a possible combination of other ingredients to make chocolate in solid form. Many other chocolate makers began to build on Van Houten’s success to make a variety of chocolate products. In 1894, English chocolate maker Joseph Storrs Fry produced what was arguably the world’s first eating chocolate”

Types of Confectionery

Confectionery also called sweets or candy is sweet food product. Confectionery is divided into two broad and somewhat overlapping categories, Bakers’ Confections and Sugar Confections. Confections are low in micronutrients and protein but high in calories. They may be fat-free foods, although some confections, especially fried doughs, are high-fat foods. Many confections are considered to give empty calories.

Baker’s Confectionery

Baker’s confectionery also called flour confections includes principally sweet pastries, cakes, and similar baked goods. In the Middle East and Asia, flour-based confections are more dominant. Baker’s confectionery includes sweet baked goods, especially those that are served for the dessert course. Baker’s confections are sweet foods that feature flour as a main ingredient and are baked. Major categories include cakes, sweet pastries, doughnuts, scones, and cookie.

Chemically, sugar candies are broadly divided into two groups: crystalline candies and amorphous or non crystallized candies. Crystalline candies are not as hard as crystals of the mineral variety, but derive their name and their texture from their microscopically organized sugar structure, formed through a process of crystallization, which makes them easy to bite or cut into. Fudge, creams, and fondant are examples of crystalline candies. Amorphous candies have a disorganized crystalline structure. They usually have higher sugar concentrations, and the texture may be chewy, hard, or brittle. Hard candies, such as lollipops, caramels, nut brittles and toffees are all examples of amorphous candies, even though some of them are as hard as rocks and resemble crystals in their overall appearance. Crystalline candies are chemically described as having two phases, because the tiny, solid sugar crystals are suspended in a thick liquid solution. These are also called grained candies, because they can have a grainy texture. Amorphous candies are have only one phase, which is either solid or liquid, and do not have a grainy texture, so they may be called ungrained.

Commercially, candies are often divided into three groups, according to the amount of sugar they contain:

Chocolate is a product that requires complex procedures to produce. The process involves harvesting coca, refining coca to cocoa beans, and shipping the cocoa beans to the manufacturing factory for cleaning, roasting, grinding , ref ining , conching , moulding and enrobing operations which are accomplished using wide range of machinery. A few have been discussed in this chapter.

1. Bean Roasters

When cocoa beans were first brought to Europe, the method of roasting was quite simple, often consisting of no more than metal trays suspended by chains over a fire, an ancient Middle Eastern technique for roasting coffee. The beans would be stirred by hand with a long stick or paddle until the roast was complete. Needless to day, this was very labor intensive and inefficient. Clearly, something more efficient was needed. The next development in roasting technology was not that far distant from roasters in use today. Metal cylinders or balls that could hold up to several pounds of cocoa beans would be suspended over the embers of a fire. A rod would run through the center and act as an axis upon which the roaster would turn. A hand crank on one end would allow the cylinder or ball to be turned while the beans were roasting. The result was a much more even roast than was before possible. Aspects of this technique remain in many of today’s roasters.

India’s bakery market at 49.5 billion tonnes makes it the third largest market in Asia Pacific, only after Japan and Australia. 72 The bakery industry in India comprises of organized and unorganized sectors. The organized sector consists of large, medium and small-scale manufacturers who produce packaged biscuits and bread. The unorganized sector consists of small bakery units, cottage and household type manufacturing their goods without much packaging and distributing their goods in the surrounding areas. Bread market is estimated to be growing at around 7% p.a. in volume terms, whereas the biscuit market has witnessed a higher growth at around 8–10%. Within the biscuit category, cream and specialty biscuits are growing at a faster rate of 20% p.a. The per-capita consumption of biscuits in India is around 900 gm as compared to 15–20 kg. for developed countries. The consumption of biscuits is equally divided between the urban and rural population. Demand for biscuits in 2003–2004 is likely to exceed 1.2 million tonnes.

The art of confectionery manufacture date back to over 3000 years as per Egyptian records. Traditionally honey, boiled and concentrated sugar cane juices have been used in confectioneries. In modern times, alternative sweeteners from sources like corn and starches constitute an integral part of confectionery manufacture.

Owing to the huge variation in finished products as well as raw materials in food sector, Quality control has an extremely important role to play. Quality control aims at controlling variation to within a tolerable level by taking corrective actions. Statistical and non-statistical techniques are employed to measure, analyze and control variation in food products. Statistical process control, acceptance sampling and visual inspection are widely used in food and allied sectors.

Maintenance of quality and manufacture of a standard confectionery should involve a very close control of raw materials, instrumentation, and statistical analysis of finished product. Statistical evaluation with respect to finished product includes weight control, sensory evaluation and packaging tests. The quality standards are set by the quality control departments. Chemists may undertake preliminary analysis through visual inspection. Visual inspection is usually combined with sampling. This gives an idea of variation, cleanliness, infestation etc. in the sample.

The modern commercial poultry production in India is barely 50 years old, although backyard poultry keeping dates back to pre-historic period. In between 1955 to 1965, some Christian Missionaries had imported White Leghorn, Rhode Island Red and White Rock breeds, to upgrade the local chicken, having very high disease resistance power; but highly broody. Later, hybrid broiler (Arbor Acres) and layer (Babcock) strains were brought to India in early seventies, to start modern poultry industry. Among the two, the layer industry took wings early and registered a spectacular growth rate between 1970 and 1985. The broiler industry came to existence five years later and showed 25 -100% annual growth rate initially and 10-20% growth rate subsequently; between 1975 – 2005. The growth indicators of poultry development in India are presented

The modern breeds of chicken have known to be descended from the wild jungle fowl. India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Thailand, Sri Lanka and Malaysia are the homeland to these jungle fowls. There are four known species of jungle fowl viz. Gallus gallus (Red jungle fowl), Gallus lafayetti (Ceylon jungle fowl), Gallus sonnerati (Grey jungle fowl) and Gallus varius (Java jungle fowl). The domestic breeds of chicken/fowl have originated from Gallus gallus.

The word indigenous, originates from the Latin work, indigena, implies that the individual and its ancestors originated from a specified country or continent. Presently, certain synonymous words used for indigenous chicken are: ‘native’, ‘local’ or ‘village chicken’. The indigenous fowls are well adapted to the local climate, need less input and produce tasty egg and meat at the least possible cost through scavenging. The birds require no scientific feeding, health care, housing and management and thus make the indigenous birds suitable for backyard poultry farming. Indigenous birds are normally handled by women, can significantly contribute to farmers’ livelihoods through increased food security and cash income. These breeds are self-propagating; contribute to poultry diversity and cultural heritage. Because of their local origin they are less prone to disease or predator attacks, and their cultural and sporting values secure additional income. The prices of egg and meat of local birds are 100- 150 percent higher than that of commercial counterpart. Some of these fowls are described in brief, as below.

Male Reproductive System

Male reproductive system (Fig. 15) consists of testes, epididymis, vas deferens and papillae.

Cocks have two ovoid creamy white testes, of which the left one is slightly larger than the right. Testes are located in the fore end of the kidneys in the abdominal cavity. Closely attached to the testes is short epididymis that continues as vas deferens which ends in the cloaca. The copulatory apparatus consists of two papillae and a rudimentary copulatory organ, the phallus which is located on the median ventral portion of one of the transverse folds of cloaca. Accessory reproductive organs like seminal vesicles, prostrate and Cowper’s glands are absent in the cocks. The phallus is small and has associated lymph glands that produce a fluid which is added to the semen.

The spermatozoa pass through the epididymis and are stored in the distal end of the vas deferens. The sperm after mating is stored in the folds in the oviduct of the hen to effect fertility up to six days. The spermatozoa of the cock have a long cylindrical head with a pointed acrosome, a short mid-piece and a long tail. Cocks produce about 0.5 -1 ml of whitish semen per ejaculate with a sperm concentration of 2- 4 billion.

A hen can produce eggs without mating by a cock. Such an egg is edible but infertile and will not hatch. If the hen is naturally or artificially inseminated with poultry semen, the spermatozoon unites with the ovum to form a fertile egg that will hatch after incubation. Unlike mammals, the embryo of birds grows independently within an enclosed hard structure called shell and thus, all nutrients required for embryonic development are contained in the egg. The yolk, albumen, shell membrane and shell protect the developing embryo apart from providing well balanced nutrients.

In modern poultry farming, successful management relies on accurate and complete daily record keeping. Some of the traits may influence the profit of farm, thereby affecting the economics of the farm than the other traits, and hence they are called economic traits. Economic traits can be defined as those traits which are economically important and improvement in these traits would increase the profit of the farm. These traits are generally assumed to be controlled by the genes at larger number of loci. Some of the economic traits in egg and meat type chickens are as follows:

Importance of Backyard Poultry Farming in India

Commercial chicken production in India has undergone a remarkable change in the last three decades. While India is among the top five chicken producing and top seven duck producing countries in the world, the gap between the demand and production is still alarming. Average per capita availability of eggs in big cities is 170 while it stands at 9 eggs per annum in the rural areas. Though the commercial poultry sector has made a stupendous progress over the years, the conventional free and backyard poultry farming remain neglected. Backyard poultry farming contributes around 11% to the national production while in certain states like U.P. around 60% of the poultry population is indigenous fowls reared under backyard system. The backyard sector contributed to 23 per cent of the total egg production in 2005-06.

Commercial chicken production is capital intensive and is generally concentrated in and around urban areas. There is a wide disparity in consumption of the poultry products between urban and rural population. Around 75% of country’s population living in the rural areas has limited access to the protein rich poultry products. Protein deficiency is quite common in the diets of rural people. Adoption of rural poultry farming may ameliorate the high incidence of protein hunger in growing children and pregnant women.

It has been seen that the commercial birds have poor immunity against common poultry diseases. As production is inversely proportional to the viability traits, the nutrients absorbed are mostly diverted for growth in commercial chicken. On the other hand, indigenous birds reared in rural areas are resistant to many diseases and pests. Unlike the local breeds maintained in villages, the commercial breeds require high level of input pertaining to feed and health care to maintain production and check mortality.

Poultry industry in India has registered a phenomenal growth during the last four decades making it one among the world leaders in poultry production. The development of organized poultry has in fact masked the contribution of backyard poultry or house-hold poultry of rural sector. Backyard poultry production in India is characterized by small flock size consisting of 5-10 predominantly non-descript birds maintained in extensive system under zero input conditions but fetch the owners much needed animal protein and supplementary income. Importance of backyard poultry is well recognized by Government of India and special programmes are formulated for its promotion.

Non-descript Chicken

Maintaining small flocks of local non-descript fowls under free range condition by landless poor, small and marginal farmers are a common sight in rural areas. These birds are very popular due to their adaptability to local agro climatic conditions and management practices with prominent brooding behaviour and mothering ability. But these birds are small in size, poor layers (40-50 eggs/ annum), with small clutch size and intense brooding behavior, thus making them not suitable for commercial exploitation.

Mixed farming exists in many forms depending on external and internal factors. External factors are weather patterns, market prices, technological developments, etc. Internal factors relate to local soil characteristics, composition of the family and farmers’ ingenuity. Farmers can decide to opt for mixed enterprises when they want to save resources by interchanging them on the farm - because these permit wider crop rotations and thus reduce dependence on chemicals, because they consider mixed systems closer to nature, or because they allow diversification for better risk management. There is wide variation in mixed systems. Even pastoralists practice a form of mixed farming since their livelihood depends on the management of different feed resources and animal species. Mixed farms are systems that consist of different parts, which together should act as a whole. They thus need to be studied in their entirety and not as separate parts in order to understand the system and the factors that drive farmers and influence their decisions. It may be the most important principle to achieve increased production in mixed systems, together with the awareness that crops and animals have multiple functions.

Brooding and Rearing Practices Used for Chicken

What is Brooding?

Rearing of young ones immediately after hatching for at least 2-3 weeks, either by natural means or by artificial method is called brooding. Brooding is done by two ways i.e., Natural or Artificial ways.

Natural Brooding

In the natural method a desi fowl which acts both as incubator and brooder is used to raise only a small number of chicks. She sits on eggs (chicken) for 21 days to produce chicks from fertile eggs and broods thereafter.

Among various animal husbandry enterprises, poultry production has emerged as number one position and attained industrial status in many countries, including India.

This tremendous growth in poultry production is due to the following reasons:

There is no religious taboo towards poultry and poultry products.

Egg is the most nutritious, natural, unadulterated and easily digestible food with the highest biological value.

Eggs can be consumed by all age groups and economic classes, since it is the cheapest among all the nutritious natural foods on the earth.

Among various meats, poultry meat has the highest protein, lowest fat and cholesterol content.

Poultry is the best converter of feed into meat and eggs. A hen needs only 1.5 kg feed to produce 1 dozen eggs. Similarly a broiler needs less than 2 kg of feed to produce one kg broiler meat whereas other species need more than 3 kg of feed to produce 1kg of meat.

Poultry has the shortest generation interval among various livestocks.

Poultry meat and eggs have high nutritive value. Egg is used as a standard for measuring the quality of other food proteins. It is a well balanced source of nutrients. Similarly poultry meat is easily digestible, high in protein and low in fat content. It contains all the essential amino acids. Though the poultry meat and egg production have tremendously increased in India during last few decades however due to lack of organized marketing channels poultry producers are not getting reasonable returns. Indian broiler and egg markets are in a disorganized state. In last few decades various efforts have been made so as to organize and co-ordinate marketing channel of poultry meat and eggs. Through these efforts producers are also benefited but only in some particular areas. Therefore, there is need to expand it further covering the country.

What is Marketing?

Marketing may be defined as exchange of a produce for an agreed sum of money. It is a commercial process involved in promoting, selling and distributing a product. In simple words marketing is finding out what customers want and supplying it at a profit. Marketing is a business in terms of customer needs and their satisfaction. As per P. Taylor, marketing is not simply providing products or services; it is essentially about providing changing benefits to the changing needs and demands of the customer.

Selection of site for a poultry farm: The following points should be considered while selecting site or location for a poultry farm.

The farm should be located at an elevated area with proper facilities for drainage.

To protect the farm against strong wind, tall trees may be planted surrounding the farm complex.

The farm should be located not too far from city to bring in and take out materials.

The commercial farm should be located near to marketing centres.

The breeder farm should be located in an isolated area away from commercial farm to ensure biosecurity.

The farm should have an easy access to connecting roads.

The site should have provision of electricity.

The desirable soil type for a poultry farm is loamy or sandy loam.

There should be provision of abundant potable water at the site. The water should be tested for various impurities like total solids, microbiological contamination, high percentage of salts of Na, K and Chlorine, nitrite, nitrate etc. Total bacterial count and Coliform count should be 0/ml.

Organic Farming

The FAO/WHO Codex Alimentarius Commission defines organic farming as “a unique production management system which promotes and enhances agro- ecosystem health, including biodiversity, biological cycles and soil biological activity, and this is accomplished by using on-farm agronomic, biological and mechanical methods in exclusion of all synthetic off-farm inputs”. It is a certification of a production system as opposed to the certification of a product. For a product to be certified organic, all operators in the product chain, including farmers, processors, manufacturers, exporters, importers, wholesalers and retailers must be certified organic. The establishment of organic animal/poultry husbandry requires a specific period called as “conversion period”. This period is the time taken between the start of the organic management on farm and certification of livestock farm and its product. Changing from conventional to organic management system for livestock enterprises requires a careful and gradual approach. It is learnt that global organic product has increased 20% annually over the past 10 years. Though Australia, European Union and USA are leading organic producers, a recent study indicated that developing countries including India are also adopting the system and marching ahead.

Conservation Biology emerged as the scientific study of the nature and status of Earth’s biodiversity with the aim of protecting species, their habitats, and ecosystems from excessive rates of extinction. Biodiversity itself has a wider meaning unifying and taking into account species, within species breeds/ varieties, ecosystem, genetic and molecular diversity.

Need for Conservation

The progenitor of modern-day chicken has been the Red Jungle Fowl and over the years breeds have been developed slowly for commercial purpose as layers and broilers. However we still have lot of indigenous birds which cannot be defined in either category.

Breeding capabilities Vs biodiversity erosion: Presently only about 3-4 poultry breeding companies provide meat stocks for farms around the world. A similar number of companies supply birds for commercial egg production. As a result modern animal industry now uses only a few breeds of any species. Of the many breeds once commonly seen on farms, many have declined sharply in numbers and others have disappeared almost completely.

Productivity Vs Conservation: On one hand, to increase productivity we want certain natural characters to be eliminated and on the other we talk of conserving the indigenous varieties, which sounds contradictory.

Project for Rural People on Chicken

For rural people Desi (indigenous) chicken plays an important role. Family poultry farming is a part and parcel of a typical rural household in India touching social, cultural and economic aspects. People residing in rural areas primarily maintain their indigenous chicken under backyard farming. With the same management system the rural people can rear improved varieties of chicken instead of their traditional counterpart. The improved varieties being Giriraja, Vanaraja, Kuroiler, Gramapriya, Gramalaxmi, Swarnadhara, Krishna J etc. A model project on improved chicken is given herewith:

A unit consisting of 100 number Vanaraja or Giriraja is economical and remunerative to the farmers whose family labour will be utilized for rearing these chickens. Initially, the farmer will buy about 225 straight-run day- old chicks. The males will be sold at 20 weeks of age. The females will be maintained for 1.5 years. In order to have continuous operation, next batch of 225 chicks have to be procured 6 months before disposal of the old batch. Birds will collect their feed through foraging or scavenging in the field. Supplementary feeding will be provided to meet their requirements.

Housing constitutes the second largest component of cost of poultry production. An ideally located and well planned poultry farm is an essential requirement for efficient egg and meat production. Poultry housing normally serves the following major functions:

Provides shelter and protection to the birds

Provides comfort to the birds.

Helps in organization of large flock into a manageable unit.

Types of Brooders

Brooding is a mechanism of providing auxiliary or supplementary heat to chicks through artificial heat using brooders. Brooders are of several types depending upon the size and the nature of fuel used. These are individual, multiple units or central heating systems run by coal, wood, oil, gas or electricity. The essentialities of a good brooder are i) a dependable mechanism, ii) supply of fresh air, iii) dryness, iv) adequate space, v) easy for cleaning and disinfection, vi) protection against enemies, vii) safety from fire and viii) economy.

i) Hover brooders

Such brooders are more widely used in India wherever electricity is available. They maintain uniform temperature, convenient for operation and require very little attention. However, eclectic brooders do not heat house appreciably in very cold weather. Wet litter may be another problem requiring frequent stirring and renewal of litter.

Care and Management of Commercial Growers (09-20 weeks) Under Deep Litter System

Grower management essentially remains the same as that of chick management (brooding management) except for the additional space required for floor, feeders and waterers to keep with the size of birds. The growers may be reared in separate grower-houses or continued to be reared in brooder-cum-grower houses.

Floor space: 1260 cm² (1.4 ft²) per bird.

Feeder space: 6-8 cm per bird. One linear feeder of 120 cm length and 8 cm depth for 40 growers.

Waterer space: 2 cm per bird; a circular waterer of 36 cm and 8 cm depth of 6 lit. capacity for 50 growers. Growers are to be provided with fresh, cool and potable drinking water at least twice a day. Water requirement is increased during hot days. Care must be made not to spill water on litter.

Lighting management: No artificial lighting is given other than natural day light since they require only 9 hours of light per day.

In India, poultry judging refers to selection of birds on the basis of their physical appearances, breed characteristics and production performances; however, in other countries, like USA judging is also used for eggs, carcasses and further processed products. The Directorate of Extension, Ministry of Agriculture, Govt. of India annually conducts livestock and poultry shows in various parts of the country in collaboration of state governments. Besides, state Agricultural/ Veterinary Universities or other institutions also conduct such shows. In these shows judging contests are carried out mostly for the undergraduate students by using a score card to grade birds either for production characters or breed characters. The winners are awarded trophies and cash prizes. The birds meant for judging are kept in individual cages and the participants are requested to score under various sub-headings and to finally rank the bird. Any deviation from “ideal” or “perfection” (as described by the American Standard of Perfection or the British Poultry Standards) but not serious enough to constitute a disqualifications in the show room is considered to be a defect. Serious defects are regarded as disqualifications and will bar a bird from winning any prize. Both layers and broilers can be physically evaluated for their performance rating.

Management of the poultry house environment forms an essential aspect towards maximizing production performance. Generally, proper maintenance of poultry litter is seldom given emphasis. The condition of litter significantly influences bird’s performance and ultimately affects the economy for rearing. The litter is defined as the bedding materials of around 5-6 cm height consisting of locally available materials like rice husk, peanut hull, wood shavings, paper shreds, sawdust or groundnut hulls. These materials can be used alone or in combination to rear the birds on floor under deep litter system of management. The excreta, feathers, spilled feed and water are mixed with bedding material, get further decomposed due to heat and bacterial action resulting in built-up-litter towards the end of rearing.

Any deviation from optimum state could be referred as stress. Every living creature has to pass through one or the other type of stresses in life. Most of the farm animals including poultry suffer from various types of stresses. These include due to:

Adverse environment

Managemental practices

Diseases

Nutritional deficiency

Transportation etc.

Vices of poultry are undesirable behavioural pattern manifested by the bird in the flock and spreads fast among the members resulting in financial losses.

Types of Vices

Pecking

Cannibalism

Egg eating

Water is the most important and abundantly required nutrient for poultry. A continuous supply of clean, fresh and wholesome potable water is essential for poultry. Poultry rearing is becoming more and more intensive with which the chances of the infectious diseases being sustained in the different flocks also increase. Consequently, the need for effective disease control measures to be adopted also gains further importance.

Most often, poultry farmers get alarmed only when the mortality level or death rate in a farm is high. However, even the existence of disease at a sub-clinical level may hinder the performance of the birds, in terms of body weight or egg number; such economic losses, sometimes relatively less and unnoticed, may mean the difference between success or failure in the poultry business. Treatment of a sick flock after the onset of any disease becomes costlier and more frequently impracticable. The recovered birds may not regain their production to original levels and may also continue as source of infection to other healthy birds. Hence, the adage ‘prevention is better than cure’ applies more to poultry industry than any other field.

Biosecurity means protection against infectious biological agents. These agents include bacteria, viruses, protozoa, fungi, parasites, and any other agents capable of introducing infectious diseases into a poultry flock. Biosecurity therefore means maintaining a flock, poultry house or premises in such a way that infectious agents do not have a chance to enter to cause diseases. The biosecurity may be categorized into three: Conceptual biosecurity, Structural biosecurity and operational Biosecurity.

Importance of Biosecurity

In modern poultry production, birds are reared under intensive system where large numbers are concentrated in small area. As a result, when an infectious agent enters a poultry house, there is probability for widespread dissemination if it is not contained. Besides, the broiler and egg industry of today is under increasing consumer and regulatory pressures to guarantee food safety and meet export requirements. As a result, broiler and layer operations around the world require the supply of breeding stock free of salmonellas specific to avian species (such as S. pullorum and S. gallinarum) and those that could cause outbreaks of human food-borne illness. Inadequate biosecurity can contribute to wide epidemics of highly pathogenic or exotic diseases. An infection by a virulent organism within a facility can be devastating, reducing without overt signs of disease. Once contaminated with pathogens, poultry facilities are extremely difficult and expensive to clean, sanitize and disinfect. Prevention of disease is always less expensive than treatment. The cost of implementing biosecurity system is smaller when compared to financial profit that can be made from production. Good biosecurity is therefore vital requirement in the best possible control of disease.

For maximization of productivity in any kind of poultry venture the knowledge on the behaviour of birds and its application play very significant role. Behaviour is the reaction of the whole organism to certain stimuli, or the manner in which it interacts to its environment. Behavioural patterns are not inherited as such, but develop through the process of growth and get differentiated under the influence of genetic and environmental factors. Primary function of behaviour is to enable the bird to adjust itself to some changes in condition, whether external or internal. Most animals have a behavioural pattern which can be tried out in a given situation and in this way they learn to apply one or the other according to that which produces the best adjustment.

Digestive System and Digestion in Chicken

Studies on structure and functions of digestive system of chicken play important role for their nutrition and feeding. Functions of each part are given below (Fig 35):

Mouth: Birds feed through the beak. The horny upper and lower mandibles form the beak. Lips, teeth, cheek and soft palate are absent. The dagger-like tongue helps to force the feed into the esophagus. Chicken has 24 taste buds with high sense of taste. Absence of teeth makes the particle size of the feed important.

Esophagus (Gullet): It is made of loose fibrous tissue and serves as a tube to pass the food from mouth to crop. This is relatively long because of the long neck of the fowl.

Crop: (Ingluvius): It is a pouch like structure of esophagus to store, moisten and soften the food. It gives information about the feeding habits of the fowl.

Proventriculus (Glandular stomach or True stomach): It is an enlarged glandular ovoid structure of the esophagus connected to gizzard. It secretes pepsin and Hydrochloric acid.

Gizzard (Muscular stomach): Disc shaped muscular organ with two pairs of strong thick muscles and lined internally with a thick horny epithelial covering called the Koilin layer. Coarse materials are ground well by its powerful contractions with the support of the grit that birds consume.

Common Poultry Diseases

Infectious diseases

Bacteria

Commonly known as “germs”, bacteria are very small living microorganisms. Only a few bacteria cause diseases. In birds these include Salmonella, Clostridia, Pasteurella, Vibrio, Staphylococci, Streptococci, Mycoplasma, Hemophilus, and Mycobacterium etc.

Chicken’s eggs have been used as a food item by human beings since antiquity. The egg is composed largely of the proteins out of the three most important dietary essentials (proteins, fats and carbohydrates). The egg proteins are highly digestible and remarkably complete, containing the most important essential amino acids. The amino acid profile of egg is similar to the ideal balance of amino acids needed by humans. It also supplies various minerals, some in significant amounts, and contains a range of vitamins. The nutritive excellence of the egg enhances the value of any food in which it is incorporated. Meeting consumer demands is a constant challenge for the poultry industry. Present day consumers desire somewhat distinct products with respect to safety, healthfulness, freshness, taste, color, etc. To remain competent, various companies have developed several designer and specialty eggs which have appeared in supermarkets.

Breeder management includes pure line management, parent stock management, and grandparent stock management depending on the context. Except for small variations in management among these stocks basics are common within layer breeder stocks and broiler breeder stocks. The main objective of the breeder management is to produce more fertile eggs per pullet and increasing the hatchability by hygienic handling of these fertile eggs.

Location of the breeder farm

Location of the breeder farm should be away from commercial poultry farms in order to prevent the spread of diseases between the flocks. However, they must be in close vicinity of the city/town to have a good transport facility and other amenities such as water, electricity and availability of labour.