INDIA
- A year after bird flu hit the Central Poultry Development
Organisation and Training Institute (CPDO&TI) in Bangalore,
Karnataka, there is good news for poultry keepers.
The first lot of chicks and ducks that were reared after the bird flu crisis have now laid the first batch of eggs, Deccan Herald reports.
CPDO
began fresh rearing in June this year after it brought in eggs of
different varieties. Now, they have all grown up and started to lay
eggs.
At present, CPDO has over 10,000 chicks, 2,000 ducks and gets around 600 eggs from these birds.
Institute
Deputy Director Dr Mahesh P S says the first batch of eggs laid will be
hatched and the process of supplying the chicks and eggs to various
states and farmers will begin only in February next year.
"After
the bird flu incident, there were various measures taken to streamline
the procedures in the institute. Potassium permanganate dips have been
make mandatory before stepping into the institute and shelters have been
built to disinfect any vehicle that enters the CPDO premises," he
added.
Unlike
previous practices of allowing visitors, CPDO has limited the entry for
visitors and has ensured that workers follow biosecurity guidelines of
wearing proper gears before entering the poultry cages, Dr Mahesh added.
CPDO
had to cull over 33,000 birds and destroy thousands of eggs due to bird
flu last year which was the first of its kind crisis the institute had
faced.
The
institute which also reared turkeys and emus has now limited its fresh
rearing to chicks and ducks. CPDO and TI Director Dr N Rajeswara Rao
said turkeys will now be reared at a different location. He said that
talks are underway with the State government to start a separate turkey
unit.
Bangalore
was the only centre in the country which had almost standardised emu
rearing before the bird flu broke out. Dr Mahesh said the institute
started rearing around 60 emus in 2007 and over a period they multiplied
to 369. "Just when we had standardised the rearing procedure of emu,
the bird flu broke out and we lost all of them. The Central government
has limited CPDO's rearing only to chicks and ducks for now," he added.
