Poultry is the rearing of domesticated fowl (chicken), ducks, geese, turkey and some varieties of pigeon for their meat and eggs. The specialized meat-producing poultry birds are called broilers while egg-laying poultry birds are called layers.
The tremendous rise in the availability of poultry products is called Silver Revolution.
Variety improvement is done by cross-breeding indigenous breeds with exotic breeds. The improved varieties are developed for the following desirable traits:
- To improve the quality and quantity of chicks.
- To develop breeds with low maintenance requirements.
- To develop dwarf broiler parents for commercial chick production.
- To develop varieties which have tolerance to high temperature (summer adaptation capacity)