Dr Zulfiqar Ahmad
Total poultry population in the country during 2012-13 was about 785 million birds producing 13813 million eggs. The production of poultry meat from commercial and rural poultry during this period is about 0.991 and 0.108 million tones, respectively. The contribution of rural poultry in total poultry meat production of the country is about 13 percent. Aseel is an important indigenous poultry breed in Pakistan, having great inherent potential for meat production while molting has been successfully employed in commercial layers for obtaining better egg yield and improved egg quality beyond their first egg production cycle during different age periods. Keeping this in view, a study was conducted by Dr Zulfiqar Ahmad, PhD scholar in Department of Poultry Production, UVAS, Lahore under supervision of Dr Abdul Waheed Sahota. The study was divided into five phases to evaluate the effect of pre and post molting on productive performance of Aseel layers.
Females of four native Aseel verities including Lakha, Mushki, Peshawari and Mianwali of different age groups were selected. Molting was induced with the help of fasting and feed restriction. Egg production performance of each variety was recorded for 16 weeks pre and post molting. The eggs of pre and post molting periods were also incubated to check their hatching performance. The study revealed that the Mushki variety had higher egg production, egg mass, egg weight, and better FCR/dozen eggs. Feed intake was higher in Peshawari variety.  The findings of the present study also indicated improvement in overall productive efficiency in Aseel chickens during post molt phase in comparison to pre molt period. Significantly higher fertility percent was recorded in post molt- phase. The higher feed intake, egg mass and better FCR/Kg egg mass were recorded in older Aseel birds, whereas, age did not influence egg weight. Overall productive efficiency remained better in post-molt as compared to pre-molt phase. Egg quality was significantly higher in post molt than the pre-molt phase. Based on the salient findings of the present study, the following recommendations are made for rural poultry stake holders. Improved egg production may be achieved in indigenous Aseel chickens through induced molting in old age or after first cycle of production. For better egg production Mushki variety of Aseel is suggested to be maintained in villages. Peshawari variety has better potential as meat bird. A comprehensive policy should be formulated to improve egg and meat production in our indigenous rural chickens.