Breeding performance and disease profile of six peafowl species in captivity at Jallo breeding center , Lahore

Captive breeding is a process of raring the endangered species in man controlled environment like wild life parks, breeding centers and zoos. The present study was carried out to determine the reproductive and breeding performance of peafowls in captivity at Jallo Breeding Center, Lahore. Moreover, the study will also include the mortality causes of these birds. The data was collected from record registers and staff of captive breeding center of Jallo Park Lahore from (2009-2012) of 6 species of peafowls. Our findings revealed that average hatchability in six species was 33.5% in 2009, 61.5% in 2010, 54%in 2011 and 47.8% in 2012. The survival percentage in peafowls was 37.1% in 2009, 94.3% in 2010, 89.1% in 2011 and 81.6% in 2012. Our findings indicated that most of the deaths in Peafowls were not investigated either due to putrefied bodies or missing reports (In Pavo cristatus 47%, in Pavo cristatus mut.nigripennis 75%, in Pavo cristus mut.alba 74%, in Pavo muticus muticus 48% , in Pavo muticus 63% and in Pavo cristatus mut.pied, 79% deaths were not documented). The average deaths recorded by the breeding center (32.67%) were mainly caused by new castle disease virus (NDV), Enteritis, Hemorrhagic Enteritis, Hepatitis + NDV, Traumatic Gizzard, respiratory and heart failure. Taken together, the unhatchability of peafowl eggs and survival of chicks were quite low in captivity. Most of the deaths were not reported either due to putrefied bodies or missing reports.


Introduction
Captive breeding is a complex science that includes observation, response to animal behavior, design of surroundings, attention to nutrition, cleanliness and detailed records of the birds' genealogy and health.Captive breeding is a process of breeding endangered or rare species in human controlled environment such as Zoos, Breeding centers and Wildlife Parks.Captive breeding is useful method to produce animals on commercial scale.It is employed to develop sizeable, stable and healthy population to avoid extinction of endangered and rare species.It is in practice to reintroduce the rare species back in to natural environment/ habitats when their sufficient number is maintained in the captivity [1-3].In Punjab (Pakistan), the first captive breeding center has been started at Jallo Wildlife Park Lahore in 1980 and it covers an area of 43 acres of the park.For the breeding of birds, pheasantries and cages are established here.Proper feeding, natural environment and water facilities are available to the birds.Prevention and cure of diseases within breeding centers and causes of death are recorded.Fencing of habitats is carried out and proper patrolling is started for the visitors' management.Wildlife Department has established seventeen different Wildlife Parks/ Wildlife Breeding centers and Zoos/ Safari Parks in Punjab due to successful breeding in Jallo Park.The total area covered by all these breeding centers is 3,168 acres [4].In Pakistan, peafowls are mostly raised as pets in small or large aviaries and marketed in pet bird shops.They are famous for colorful and shining feathers.They are polygynous and possess two to three peahens in their harem [5,6].In natural environment the size of Clutch is 8-9 eggs where as in captivity the peahen lays 8-20 eggs and the incubation period is about [28][29][30]

Mortality reports
The mortality reports mainly pertain to the causes of birds' death, investigation of the death or putrefaction of the dead bird.The available record showed that the carcasses of dead birds were sent for the post mortem to the Veterinary Research Institute (VRI), Lahore.The reports were subsequently analyzed and the data was compiled.Death in captive birds was caused by accidents (fighting among themselves), New castle disease virus (NDV), Coryza, liver intoxication, Enteritis, Hemorrhagic Enteritis, Colibacillosis, Heat stress, Chronic Respiratory Distress (CRD), Hepatitis, Nephritis, Lungs and Tracheal congestion, Feed Toxicity and snake bite.A sizeable number of deaths were either not investigated either due to putrefied body or missing reports.The "Eggs and Chicks Reports" and "Stock & Exchange Reports" mainly described the collection of eggs, hatching of eggs, parental stock and chicks after hatching.The parental stock along with hatched chicks was kept in pheasantries till their sex was identified.In parental pheasantries, 3-4 females were kept with one male.Healthy breeder birds were kept in pheasantries to produce healthy viable eggs.During breeding season, eggs were collected daily from parental pheasantries.Date of egg laying and name of species were marked on every egg with led pencil.After being collection, the eggs were sanitized with fumigation.

Results
A summary of hatchability and survival rate of all the six species of peafowl from 2009-2012 is shown in (Table 1 &    were not recorded as their carcasses were found putrefied and 19% deaths were not reported due to missing reports; thus 63% deaths were not investigated.

Conclusion
Majority of the peafowl species cannot successfully breed due to large number of diseases prevalent in the captivity.The hatching success is very low but survival rate is substantially high in captivity.Most of the deaths are not investigated either due to putrefied carcasses or missing reports.The unattended deaths or missing reports is alarming factor for the staff of captive breeding centers as it collapses their efforts regarding rehabilitation of endangered species.Keeping in view the reproductive performance in captivity, the staff of the breeding centers should be trained on regular basis regarding different aspects of rearing of captive animals.

Table 8 . Diseases of pied peafowl in captivity Year Causes of Mortality
In present study, the investigated deaths in peafowls were caused by NDV, Coryza, Enteritis, Hepatitis + NDV, Traumatic Gizzard, Nephritis, Liver Intoxication and lung congestions recorded in the four years (2009-2012) data.Newcastle disease (ND) is a highly contagious and fatal disease affecting poultry and a wide range of wild birds worldwide [27, 28].The death toll of Peafowls in captivity at breeding center was further supported by [29] who reported that Peafowls raised in inadequate conditions, on poor quality feed and exposed to natural pathogens most frequently became victims of nutritional, viral, bacterial and parasitic diseases.