Traditional Feeding System for Pigs in Northeast India

Abstract

Smallholder pig farming is an important livelihood resource for the tribal people in Northeast

Performance of crossbred pigs with indigenous and Hampshire inheritance under a smallholder production system in the Eastern Himalayan hill region

“…The present finding was comparatively higher than the body weights of indigenous pigs (Niang Megha and Doom) for the corresponding ages ( Khargharia et al, 2014 ), which is due to the Hampshire inheritance. The present findings, however, corroborate the findings of Haldar et al (2017 ) who reported that the crossbred pigs—Ghungroo × Hampshire, Tripura Mali × Duroc, and Niang Megha × Hampshire—attained mean body weight of 71.58–89.50 kg at 12 months old. Reproductive performance of the crossbred pig variety was also found to be better than indigenous pigs.…”

“…Litter size at birth of the crossbred variety was 8.87 ± 0.24, whereas at weaning it was 8.27 ± 0.37, which was significantly higher ( p < 0.05) than the local pigs—results due to the Hampshire inheritance. Haldar et al (2017 ) reported similar litter performance in different crossbred pigs in a smallholder pig farming system for Hampshire × Ghungroo, NM × Hampshire, Duroc × Ghungroo, Duroc × Tripura Mali, and Tamworth × Ranchi local pigs. In the present study, the crossbred variety attained a body weight of 82.54 ± 1.12 kg by 300 days under a smallholder production system, which corroborates the findings of Haldar et al (2017 ) in NM × Hampshire crossbreds in smallholder farms.…”

“… Haldar et al (2017 ) reported similar litter performance in different crossbred pigs in a smallholder pig farming system for Hampshire × Ghungroo, NM × Hampshire, Duroc × Ghungroo, Duroc × Tripura Mali, and Tamworth × Ranchi local pigs. In the present study, the crossbred variety attained a body weight of 82.54 ± 1.12 kg by 300 days under a smallholder production system, which corroborates the findings of Haldar et al (2017 ) in NM × Hampshire crossbreds in smallholder farms. Hence, rearing the crossbred pig variety under a smallholder production system was better in terms of production and reproduction performance and resulted in more profitability than average local pigs under the same management system.…”

“…Due to the importance of pig in this region's dietary habits, almost every rural household rears two to three pigs as a livelihood resource ( Kadirvel et al, 2013 ). However, pigs are reared under a smallholder low-input production system which utilizes locally available resources like agricultural bio-products and kitchen wastes as they feed off less than 1 ha of land ( Kumaresan et al, 2007 ; Haldar et al, 2017 ; Kadirvel et al, 2017 ). The total pig population of India is 9.06 million, of which 7.16 million (79.03%) are contributed by indigenous and local pigs ( Livestock census, 2019 ).…”

Colocasia (Colocasia esculenta L.) in Northeast India

“…The villagers mainly depend on kitchen waste, locally available grasses (Spilanthus sp, Bidens biternata, Hibiscus sp, Conyza auriculata, Polygonum chinensis, etc. ), rice bran, etc for feeding of pig (Kumaresan et al, 2007;Haldar et al, 2017). Colocasia leaves, petioles and damaged tubers are one of the important ingredients in low input traditional pig feeding (Patra et al, 2014;Singh et al, 2019).…”