author(s)
R Prabakaran, S Ezhil Valavan and AK Thiruvenkadan

abstract
Poultry is kept in a wide range of agro-ecological zones and production systems as well as under different economic regimes around the world. The global poultry sector is divided into two distinct subsectors: the commercial sub-sector dominated by international, well developed, vertically integrated companies, and the small-scale sub-sector that provides up to 90 per cent of total poultry production in some of the least developed countries. Remarkable growth of poultry sector in the Indian sub-continent has been essentially chicken dominated; dependent on intensive system of production involving high technology with high external inputs. The prevailing socio-agro-economic scenario of this sub-continent needs broad spectrum of poultry alternatives to meet the different local requirements. The availability of such diversification possibilities would maximize the returns from a given level of inputs and also minimize the risks and hazards to the environment.