The Importance Of Poultry Industry In India

Agriculture is the backbone of Indian economy. Livestock sector is one of the important sub-sectors of agriculture which directly influences socio-economic status of the people. It acts as an insurance coverage particularly among the marginal, small and semi-medium farmers in rural areas. The importance of livestock in India goes not only beyond the function of food production but also considered as an important source of draught power, means of transportation, manure for crop production, fuel for indigenous use and also signifies a social dignity in certain societies in many parts of the country. Livestock sector alone contributes nearly 25.6 per cent value of output at current prices of total value of output in Agriculture, Fishery & Forestry

Poultry industry is one of the important sub-sector of livestock production in India. The remarkable growth achieved in the Indian poultry sector is due to several factors like initiation of pure line breeding within the country in both public and private sectors leading to availability of elite commercial layer and broiler germplasm and introduction, improvement and commercialization of diversified poultry species, balanced feed, proper health coverage, transfer of technology package and market support. As a result, it has become one of the gigantic success stories of the country over the past few decades and has transformed itself from a backyard venture during 1960s into a huge fruitful, organized, sophisticated, mechanized agribusiness

Active principles in the feed further help in increasing health status of poultry bird. With the rising demand, innovative products like value added eggs have started appearing in Indian market. In hills different traditional pulses like tor, gahat, urd, bhatt, sonta, rajma etc. have been on high demand for their taste and nutritive value and for being bio food. Black soyabean (Glycine max- botanical name and local name : bhatmaas, kalabhat or bhatt) seeds are rich in protein and iron with shelf life of 12 months. The seeds are also rich in calcium, phosphorus, carbohydrate and vitamins A and B. Bhatt or black soyabean is an all time favourite with the local people. The black soyabean is usually consumed in form of dal (bhatwani), forming one of the staple food in uttarakhand. Bhatt is traditionally prepared in an iron kadhai to make chudkani, bhatwani and