Production system characterization of local indigenous chickens in lower Northern Thailand

บทคัดย่อ

Indigenous chickens play an essential role in Thailand's local smallholder farming system. They are raised for household consumption and extra income but also bred for sport such as fighting cock. In recent years, cockfighting has become a high-value sports challenge in Thailand. Here, our survey involving 200 households from 48 villages using both purposive and random sampling methods was carried out in five provinces of lower Northern Thailand to describe local indigenous chicken production systems and the socioeconomic statuses of farmers. Most respondents were males (87%) from the present study, and the primary purpose of indigenous chicken was fighting cock (78%). The chicken husbandry system could classify into three categories as free-range systems (18%), intensive systems (6.5%), and semi-intensive systems (75.5%). The most local indigenous chicken was left to scavenge, and farmers also provided some extra feed. The average flock size per household for roosters and hens was 3.07 and 9.06, with a total flock size of 39.23 birds. Predation (63.5%) and disease (22.5%) were the leading cause of mortality. Although most farmers could do some vaccination by themselves, their knowledge about preventing epidemic diseases and farm management were still limited. For trading, the well-trained and well-breed fighting cock (5 to 12 months old) could sell for very high prices compared with general indigenous chicken. Education about chicken genetics, welfares, and farm management is necessary and should promote sustainable development in the future.