Field visit to Aseel bird Farm in Hemmadi, Coastal Karnataka

    Scientific team of ICAR-CCARI lead by Dr. Parveen Kumar, Director, visited an Aseel bird farm in the Hemmadi village of coastal district of Udupi on 6 October, 2024. Aseel is a popular native breed of chicken known for its robust and powerful build, distributed mostly in the states of Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Tamil Nadu. It has a slender face, compact eyes, long neck and has strong straight legs. In terms of hardiness, Aseel chickens are generally robust and climate resilient birds.

    The team took stock of the various farming activities and inspected Aseel bird units and provided technical inputs on the scientific poultry rearing and management. The demand for Aseel bird is significantly high in the coastal Karnataka. While the breed which is naturally aggressive was originally kept for cockfighting and meat purpose, nowadays these birds are also kept for ornamental purposes. Scientific livestock and poultry rearing practices and various farming related challenges faced by the dairy and poultry farmers were also discussed during the visit. Scientific team of ICAR-CCARI highlighted major research and development activities of the institute and potential prospects of poultry and livestock farming for improving the livelihood of rural farmers. Different veterinary medicines, feed supplements, vegetable seeds, and leaflets on scientific livestock farming were distributed to six number of farmers. Farmers expressed heartfelt gratitude for the farmer-centric initiatives of the Institute. Dr. Gokuldas PP, Dr. Sreekanth GB and Shri. Trivesh Mayekar coordinated the field visit.