Morphometric, productive and reproductive traits of Indian peafowl (Pavo cristatus) in Bangladesh

The study was aimed to know the morphometric traits, productive and reproductive performance of Indian peafowl populations in Bangladesh. The research was conducted at Sheikh Rashel Aviary and Eco-park, Rangunia, Chittagong and encompassed about 20 Indian peafowls (10 blue and 10 white birds). Least-Square Mean±SE of body length, wingspan, shank length, beak length, head length, neck length, crown feather length, flight feather length, and tail feather length of mature peafowl were 71±0.98, 102±1.99, 10.94±0.31, 3.99±0.04, 5.545±0.05, 19.29±0.40, 5.79±0.05, 32.29±0.53 and 39.07±2.99 cm, respectively. Males scored significantly (p<0.01) higher than their female counterparts for all morphometric traits except crown feather length. The body weight of Indian peafowl at day old, 1-week, 2-week, 6-month and 3-years of age were 61.85±0.44gm, 82.40±0.56gm, 105.75±1.14gm, 2.19±0.1 kg and 4.59±0.25kg, respectively. Males were significantly (p<0.01) heavier than female in all age groups. Egg weight, egg length, egg width, incubation period, clutch size, and age at first egg were 104.85±21.93gm, 7.34±0.19cm, 5.71±0.06cm, 29.4±0.13 days, 9.30±0.10 and 744.20±0.96 days, respectively. The egg weight and egg length of Indian blue type were significantly higher (p<0.01) than those of Indian white type. This study provides a benchmark for the morphometric traits and performance of peafowl in Bangladesh.