PRODUCTION AND REPRODUCTIVE PERFORMANCE OF HY-LINE BROWN PARENT STOCK IN THE THREE POULTRY BREEDING CENTRES IN BHUTAN

Abstract

Poultry farming is an important part of Bhutan’s livestock production systems, playing an important role in enhancing food security and supporting rural livelihoods. Optimizing the performance of the parent stock (PS) is vital for improving farm productivity and sustaining egg production. This study assessed and compared the production and reproductive performance of Hy-Line Brown PS among the three government poultry breeding centres in Bhutan: Regional Poultry Breeding Centre (RPBC), Paro, National Poultry Development Centre (NPDC), Sarpang, and Regional Pig and Poultry Breeding Centre (RPPBC), Mongar. Farm records from 2023 to 2024 were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. RPBC recorded the highest hen-day and hen-housed egg production, followed by RPPBC, while NPDC showed the lowest performance. Feed Conversion Ratio (FCR) was lowest at RPBC (1.83±0.15), followed by RPPBC (2.06±0.31), and highest at NPDC (2.79±0.91), and the differences were statistically significant at 95% confidence interval (p< 0.05). Mortality differed significantly (p< 0.05) between ages 1-17 weeks and 18-75 weeks. In the early stage of rearing, female mortality was highest at RPBC, while male mortality was highest at NPDC. In the later phase, female mortality was highest at NPDC and male mortality at RPBC. NPDC recorded the earliest age at first lay (134 days), whereas RPPBC achieved 50% lay earlier at 149 days, compared to RPBC (151 days) and NPDC (159 days), respectively. Age at peak lay was achieved earlier by RPPBC (173 days), followed by NPDC (186 days) and RPBC (219 days). Fertility and hatchability rates also varied significantly (p< 0.05) among the centers. Fertility was highest at RPBC (88.37±4.15%), followed by NPDC (85.91±3.66%) and RPPBC (85.58±5.89%). Hatchability of both set and fertile eggs was highest at RPPBC (56.20±10.64% and 70.47±9.93%, respectively), followed by NPDC (55.81±11.82% and 64.91±12.90%, respectively) while RPBC recorded the lowest hatchability at 44.78±13.67% and 56.80±15.88%, respectively. These findings highlight substantial variation in performance across centers demanding a need for targeted centre-specific management interventions to improve efficiency and reproductive success of Hy-Line Brown PS in Bhutan.