Vol. 9, Special Issue 6, Part B (2024)

In India, the indigenous pigs are traditionally reared either by the poor, weaker and the tribal sections of the society. Although, the growth rates and feed conversion ratio of indigenous pigs are less than those of exotic or crossbred pigs, they have unique features like heat tolerance, disease resistance, early sexual maturity and ability to produce meat with less fat. The Indian pig population consists of 29.40% descript pigs, comprising 2.80% exotic, 18.10% crossbred, and 8.20% indigenous pigs, while 70.60% are non-descript pigs which are yet to be categorized for their breed status. Although, the indigenous pigs were largely clubbed as local or non-descript but in the last few years many population have been characterized. So for 14 breeds of pigs have been registered by ICAR-NBAGR as new breeds of indigenous pigs in India. Some of the synthetic pigs were developed by crossing different indigenous pigs with exotic pigs.