Effect of Dietary Crude Protein Level and Altitudinal Variation on Early Growth Stage of Pen-Raised Ring-Necked Pheasants (Phasianus colchicus) in Surkhet, Nepal

Abstract

Purpose: Kalij meat is recognized as containing high levels of protein and low amounts of fat, which makes it a healthy dietary option. Broiler meat is quite popular in Nepal, along with Sakini and other indigenous local poultry. However, city dwellers and those who enjoy the special taste of indigenous poultry meat are increasingly inclined toward Kalij pheasant meat. Ring necked pheasant is called Kalij in Nepal. There are 8 different Kalij species in Nepal, but Ring-Necked Kalij are commercially popular although their growth performance is very poor. The main objective of this research was to assess early growth performance of Ring necked Kalij to varying protein levels in their diet by considering altitudinal variation, in Surkhet, Nepal.
Methods: Two altitudes (flat basin, of 658 and 1,498 mean above sea level) of Surkhet district were chosen for this research. Accordingly, four different crude protein (CP) levels, containing 24%, 25%, 26%, and 27% were provided along with required energy and minerals in their diet. Birds were reared under CRD with each treatment replicated four times. Feed intake and growth parameters were measured weekly.
Results: Findings revealed that altitude had a significant effect (p < 0.001) to both feed intake and growth resulting in higher growth rate at flat basin (lower altitude), but such effect was not significant (p < 0.05) for treatments combination until 3-6 weeks of initial growth stage.
Conclusion: The Early-stage body weight gain of Kalij pheasant in flat plain and also to the higher altitude with respect to varying protein content in diet are encouraging, but further detail and in-depth research is required to gauge out the effect of standard diet to the growth of Kalij birds that are appropriate from CP content and carcass quality perspective.