Poultry farming in the cold, arid Himalayan region of India

In the cold, arid Himalayan region of India, where the altitude is 3048-3658 m above mean sea level (MSL) and the temperature ranges from +35°C to -35°C, poultry farming is very difficult. Poultry farming in Leh-Ladakh has been a venture that has generally taken a back seat in this cold, arid region for a number of reasons. In this region, the Buddhist community makes up most of the population, and, because of their largely vegetarian lifestyle; they generally avoid killing animals in principal. Another reason is the lack of availability of any specific high yielding variety of layer or broiler breed in this high altitude region. Typically, the existing local poultry breeds exhibit very poor egg and meat production. Further factors which have influenced poultry production are the unavailability of poultry feed and the existence of harsh climatic conditions. The status of poultry rearing in this region is not encouraging, with the current total population of poultry birds limited to just a few thousand. There are many constraints contributing to this, including limited availability of feed, lack of subsidies, religious sentiments, lack of availability of suitable germ plasm, limited poultry feed ingredients, and poor knowledge regarding poultry farming. Furthermore, the housing of poultry is difficult in this cold, arid climate. Maintaining the optimum temperature of 25 to 35°C inside brooder and 15 to 20°C inside grower and layer housing requires modifications to the design of traditional poultry housing. The different types of housing available for use in this area are above- ground mud walled poly sheds, semi-underground mud or stone walled houses, trombay wall sheds and solar poultry houses. Fertility and hatchability are therefore the main problems in this area. The problems of poultry farming in high altitude and their solutions have been addressed in this paper.