Bukhari-An indigenous method of brooding in remote and rural areas

Transcription

1 Indian Journal of Traditional Knowledge Vol. 5(2), April 2006, pp Bukhari-An indigenous method of in remote and rural areas R K Chaurasia 1, B Prakash 1, P V K Sasidhar* 2 & V B Sharma 3 1 National Research Center on Mithun, Jharnapani, Nagaland 2 Technology Transfer Section, Central Avian Research Institute, Izatnagar, Uttar Pradesh 3 Department of Animal Production and Management, Nagaland Central Agricultural University, Medziphema, Nagaland pvksasidhar@yahoo.com Received 2 February 2005; revised 28 June 2005 An investigation was carried out in order to evaluate Bukhari, an indigenous method of in the remote and hilly areas of rural India. A total of 400 chicks, divided into four groups of 100 each were used for the experiment. Three groups were used for Bukhari and rest 100 were under conventional method. The chicks were brooded for a period of three weeks under similar managemental conditions. At the end of period, the body weight, weight gain, feed consumption and conversion efficiency were 561±1.80 gm and ±4.68 gm; ±1.80 and ±3.38 gm; 1153 gm and gm; and 2.33 and 2.10 respectively for conventional and Bukhari brooded groups. However, at the age of six weeks they were in the order of ±5.81 gm and ±7.34 gm; ±2.92 gm and ±3.10 gm; 3721 gm and gm; 2.33 and 2.72 respectively, for conventional and Bukhari brooded groups. The dressing and mortality percentage in both the groups were found to be 74.68±0.24 and 73.92±0.31; 2.00 and 3.34 respectively, showing no significant difference in performance between Bukhari and conventionally brooded chicks. The study recommends Bukhari as a safe, economic and suitable indigenous method of to conventional brooder in remote and rural areas having no or limited availability of power/electricity supply. Key words: Bukhari, Indigenous method IPC Int. Cl. 8 : A01K41/02, A01K41/04, A01K41/06 Brooding of chicks is an important aspect of poultry rearing and proper will result in healthy growers. In rural areas, cold places and remote hilly regions, there is shortage of electricity and frequent power failure leading to improper and thereby increasing post-hatch mortality rate resulting in non-profitable poultry farm. To overcome these problems, appropriate technology based on the locally available resources has to be developed, which a farmer can adopt easily and economically. Bukhari, a kind of indigenous heating contrivance and useful appliance in the places where low temperature persists and facility of electricity is scanty or yet to be extended could be successfully used for of poultry 1. Hence, Bukhari was used in the present study to brood the chicks for generating heat by utilizing sawdust and hurricane lantern for lighting the room in lieu of electrical brooder. The investigation was carried out in order to evaluate this alternative indigenous method of, which can be practiced by the people living in inaccessible hilly * Corresponding author terrain having scanty or non-availability of power facility. A comparative evaluation was also made by using feed consumption, feed conversion efficiency and dressing percentage as indicators in the two feeding systems of, i.e. conventional and Bukhari. Further, an economic analysis was carried out for estimating cost of production in both the systems. Methodology Bukhari, which is used indigenously as room heaters, cooking mantles, etc. by inhabitants of high altitude experiencing medium to extreme cold weather was used in the present experiment to brood the chicks (Fig.1). To generate heat by Bukhari, saw dust, charcoal, etc. are used as burning material. However, in most of the human inhabited areas of high and low altitude the use of saw dust for burning Bukhari is common. The Bukhari works on the principle that when any combustible substance is burnt inside the inner cylinder, due to combustion process heat generates and by conduction the inner cylinder gets heated and through convection outer cylinder starts radiating heat and makes the

2 192 INDIAN J TRADITIONAL KNOWLEDGE, VOL.5, NO.2, APRIL 2006 environment warm around it (Fig.2). The duration of heat radiation depends upon the quantity of combustible materials used and the amount of heat generated depends upon the calorific value (quality) of combustible materials, i.e. saw dust, wood charcoal, coal, etc. The various parts of Bukhari used in the present study included inner cylinder, outer cylinder, upper covering lid, exhaust pipes with controlling valve (Fig.3), base ignition plate, hover, and setting cylinder. Inner cylinder is made of steel plate of 1 mm thickness. The length of inner cylinder is 59 cm and the diameter is 29 cm. It is placed inside the outer cylinder with a gap of 5 cm. Inner cylinder serves the purpose of store house of combustion materials, i.e. in the inner cylinder the saw dust is filled in such a way that in the middle a upward gap of at least 5 cm remains throughout to ignite the fuel. After ignition the combustion process starts and heat generated is radiated. The outer cylinder is made of iron sheet fitted with ignition plate at the bottom and exhaust pipes in one side of the cylinder. Whatever heat is received through convection in the gap, is absorbed by the outer cylinder and is radiated to the outer environment. The cylinder length is 62 cm excluding ignition plate and including ignition plate the total length is 68 cm, i.e. 6 cm is the length of ignition plate. Upper covering lid is also made of iron sheet and is cylindrical in shape and has two hooks to open it from the outer cylinder. It is 39 cm in diameter. Two exhaust pipes are fitted, the first one at a distance of 40 cm from the base excluding ignition plate. The diameter of pipe is 10 cm. The second exhaust pipe is fitted at 9 cm above base. The upper exhaust pipe is fitted with controlling valve, which helps in maintaining the rate of combustion and helps in heating the lower portion of outer cylinder. Base ignition plate is located at the lower base of outer cylinder. It is 6 cm in length. It is constructed in such a way that during ignition time it can be drawn out, combustion materials, can be placed, ignited and then pushed back to its original position for effective burning process of fuel. After the process, the ash collected is cleared and replaced by new combustible materials. Hover is made up of aluminum sheets and is almost like umbrella, which is placed over the Bukhari. The main function of hover is to reflect the heat radiated by Bukhari in the downward direction. Since hover is circular in shape and its canopy is almost 30 cm from the outer cylinder of Bukhari, so, the temperature below the hover will be always more than without hover, and variation in temperature can be clearly obtained in both the conditions. Setting cylinder is cylindrical in shape, made of iron sheets and is about 65 cm length. Its main function is to place it inside the inner cylinder while refilling the combustible material. It is done so to provide a vertical circular hollow gap in the middle of the combustible material so that, when the ignition starts, it starts from lower level, and reaches quickly to upper level thereby spreading the heat to all sides and through out. The hollow circular gap helps in efficient combustion of combustible material. Bukhari has to be checked with its fittings to ensure that there is no leakage of smoke in the room, which causes suffocation to the chicks (Figs.4-5). The inner cylinder has to be filled with sawdust and packing of sawdust should be done carefully so that when setting cylinder is removed saw dust remain packed with a hollow cylinder like gap. Inner cylinder is placed inside the outer cylinder. The ignition plate is taken out and some combustible material is put. Little bit of kerosene is put and lit, it is put inside and the combustion process starts in the packed saw dust. When combustion starts the upper covering lid is put and the smoke comes out through the exhaust pipe. If smoke starts coming smoothly it is a sign that combustion is going inside, if not the process is restarted. If the atmospheric temperature is too low then the hover is put and the controlling valve at the starting of combustion is closed. It is continued till required temperature is attained. After attaining the required temperature in the area, the hover is removed and the controlling valve is opened. The range of environmental temperature during the experimental period was maintained at 16º - 31º C. The maintenance of the required temperature plays an important role in overall performance of broiler chicks. Increase or decrease in temperature especially during the early part of period affects their performance. In Bukhari, maintenance of required temperature is difficult, however under proper supervision one can maintain the required temperature. In Bukhari, production of heat starts and reaches peak level and remains there for sometime, and then goes down to a level where it was started. In the present study, the maintenance of temperature was done by using hover on Bukhari with controlling valve. When the temperature requirement was more,

3 CHAURASIA et al.: BUKHARI-AN INDIGENOUS BROODING METHOD 193 both hover and controlling valves were placed, and closed but once the temperature was raised above required level, again the hover and controlling valves were displaced and opened. Birds behaviour was taken into account, i.e. if birds huddle together, it showed that temperature was less, and if they were away from Bukhari it signified an increase in the temperature, so when the birds were moving freely it was considered as the best temperature. However, like conventional, one cannot decrease accurately the temperature of Bukhari every week but by proper supervision,

4 194 INDIAN J TRADITIONAL KNOWLEDGE, VOL.5, NO.2, APRIL 2006 Table 1 Time-temperature relationship in Bukhari brooder Time (hrs) Without hover (ºC) Temperature With hover (ºC) maintenance of proper temperature near to the requirement is possible. The temperature recorded in Bukhari with and without hover are given in the Table 1. The experiment was conducted by using 400 dayold straight-run commercial broiler chicks of Phoenix Cobb strain, with mean body weight of 32.15±0.21 gm. Four equal groups of chicks were placed in the two brooder houses, three groups being in Bukhari brooder house and one in conventional brooder house. The brooder houses were prepared, and properly sanitized with disinfectant in both the groups. The litter material was dried in sunshine and placed in the brooder, to maintain a thickness of 7-10 cm throughout. Before arrival of chicks, brooder and generator were tested for the required temperature at 35 C. So also, before arrival of chicks, the fitness of Bukhari was tested, and was filled up with sawdust, and was put on to maintain the required temperature. Chick guards were placed according to the required spacing. In conventional brooder, temperature was recorded in the first week to maintain required temperature. In the subsequent weeks, the temperature was reduced gradually by 1.8º C until 3rd week. The pattern of distribution of chicks and their behavior under the brooder was observed during day and night to assess their comfort and to make sure that they were not under stress. In Bukhari brooder, temperature was recorded to maintain the required temperature at 35º C. The digital thermometer and hygrometer were used for recording the temperature and humidity of the brooder houses, and accordingly temperature and humidity were maintained as per the standard recommendations 2. However, maintenance of required temperature in Bukhari was not so perfect, because when Bukhari was initially ignited there was low temperature. At that time hover was placed over Bukhari and Table 2 Average temperatures and humidity of different week Weeks Temperature (ºC) Humidity (%) Conventional Bukhari Conventional Bukhari Average controlling valve was closed to produce more heat spreading uniformly downwards to obtain the required temperature. When the temperature was found to be beyond requirement, the hover was removed, and adjusted accordingly. After second week, the conventional brooder, as well as Bukhari brooder was not put into use during daytime, as the required temperature was optimum. The temperature and humidity data recorded during the experimental period is presented in Table 2. In conventional brooder, lighting was done by electricity generated by generator, and in Bukhari, lighting was done by a hurricane lantern throughout the period of three weeks with extra lantern as and when required. During period, birds were given 450 sq cm/bird, whereas after they were given 900 sq cm/bird. The birds were reared in the same compartment from day old to 6 weeks. Both the groups were fed through a suitably designed feeder by using the standard formulated starter ration mash with a Crude Protein (CP) percentage of during the period. The finisher pellet ration with CP % was fed during last three weeks of study, till the birds were marketed. The clean potable drinking water was provided ad libitum by the automatic waterer. The weak and crippled chicks were culled from the stock during the experimental period. Proper health care measures were strictly followed and a similar feeding and managemental conditions were adopted in both the brooder groups. The data pertaining to body weight, weight gain, feed consumption, and feed conversion efficiency were collected at weekly intervals from both brooder groups. The mortality rate and dressing percentage were recorded at the end of the experiment. The collected data were subjected to the t test for testing the significance of difference between the two treatment groups 3. The rations were analyzed for CP according to AOAC 4. For the economic study, the

5 CHAURASIA et al.: BUKHARI-AN INDIGENOUS BROODING METHOD 195 Traits Bodyweight (gm) Table 3 Comparative performance of broilers brooded by conventional and Bukhari methods Age in Weeks Conventional ± ± ± ± ± ±5.81 Bukhari ± ± ± ± ± ±7.34 Body weight gain (gm) Conventional 82.22± ± ± ± ± ± 2.92 Bukhari 72.31± ± ± ± ± ±3.10 Total feed Consumption (gm) Conventional Bukhari Feed conversion efficiency Conventional Bukhari Table 4 Economics (cost benefit analysis) of broiler production S No Parameters Bukhari Conventional 1 Cost of chicks (Day Rs Rs old) 2 Average weight of Kg Kg the bird 3 Cost of feeding Rs Rs Cost of (Fuel cost) Re 1 per chick Rs per chick (Cost of and rearing with generator) 5 Miscellaneous Rs 2 per chick Rs 2 per chick 6 Total cost of production of one chick Rs Rs Gross income (Market rate of kg live weight X Live weight of chicks) Rs 55 X =Rs Net income = X1.656=Rs =7.51 method of estimating cost of production was used with slight modifications to suit the local conditions of the experimental station 5. Results and discussion The comparative performance of the broiler birds brooded under the two different systems for first three weeks of their life were presented (Table 3). Though the body weight gain, feed consumption, and feed conversion efficiency of the chicks under Bukhari as well as conventional brooder houses were statistically non-significant, Bukhari brooded group consumed a comparatively higher quantity of feed and showed poor feed conversion efficiency in the third and fourth week of age. Mortality rates of 2.66% and 2.00% were observed during period in Bukhari and conventional methods, respectively. An overall mortality of 3.34 % and 2.00 % was found in Bukhari and conventionally brooded groups, respectively. The higher mortality rate in Bukhari was attributed to fluctuation in the humidity of brooder house. Dressing percentages of 73.29±0.31 and 74.68±0.24 as observed in Bukhari and conventional brooders, respectively did not show significant difference. Economics (cost benefit analysis) of broiler production reared under conventional and Bukhari brooder was analyzed (Table 4). It was evident that the Bukhari brooder excelled over the conventional brooder. This economic gain is attributed to the savings in the cost of fuel charges. However, a slightly higher gross income from conventionally brooded group might be attributed to higher feed conversion efficiency of the birds, resulting in comparatively more broiler production. Though the chicks reared under conventional system excelled slightly over Bukhari in terms of body weight, body weight gain, feed consumption and efficiency, the overall economics showed that Bukhari gave better economic returns by saving significantly in fuel costs of. However, if electricity instead of generator is used in conventional method, the fuel costs can be reduced. But in the remote hilly areas regular supply of electricity is the problem. Further for large scale poultry farming, economies of scale apply and commercial system excels over Bukhari. Never the less, for the conditions of Northeastern hill region, low input usage and small scale subsistence

6 196 INDIAN J TRADITIONAL KNOWLEDGE, VOL.5, NO.2, APRIL 2006 poultry farming, Bukhari is best reared method of. Being equally efficient to conventional brooder, Bukhari a simple indigenous contrivance used by the people living in the cooler climate of higher altitude may be promoted. Being habitual nonvegetarian and having scarcity of electricity supply, small scale broiler farming may be flourished in these areas with this alternative method of for improving socio-economic as well as nutritional status of hilly tribes. References 1 Singh R A, Poultry production, (Kalyani Publishers, New Delhi), 1981, Charles D R, Temperature for broilers, World Poultry Sci, 43(3) (1986), Snedecor G V & Cochran W G, Statistical methods, 6th ed (Oxford and IBH Publishing Company, New Delhi, India), AOAC, Official Methods of Analysis, 14 th ed (Association of Official Analytical Chemist, Washington, DC), Kothandaraman P & Narahari D, Economics of broiler production in India, Poultry Guide, 2(1982),