"Foreign blood" is now running in the veins of some native chicken in the parts of the Visayas.

Being used to upgrade the native fowls is the Triple Production Red (TPR), abreed from Ohio, United States. TPR is a composite strain of selected traditional single-combed red chicken (25 percent single-combed Rhode island from the US, 25 rose-combed Rhode Island Red from the US, 25 percent from New Hampshire, and 25 rose-combed Rhode Island from the United Kingdom).

A dual-purpose egg (egg and meat) breed, the exotic TPR holds good promise of improving backyard fowls of native chicken (NC), as initially found in research projects done by the Department of Agriculture-Eastern Visayas Integrated Agricultural Research Center (DA-EVIARC) with funding support from the DA-Bureau of Agricultural Research (BAR).

The TPR possesses desirable characteristics such as large body, high hatchability performance, very good sitter, and high mothering ability similar to that of the native chicken.

One study conducted in Babatngon, Leyte, indicated that the TPR had a hatchability of 91.9 percent against the NC's 78 percent, as reported by EVIARC manager Rufino Ayaso III.

As to egg performance, the TPR X NC cross averaged 35 eggs per year, or 12 more than the 23 of native chicken. The TPR-NC also grew faster and was heavier than the native chicken.

Mortality of the TPR X NC cross was 25 percent while that of the native chicken was 38 percent.

The TPR was also a component of another EVIARC study under BAR's banner program Community-based Participatory Action Research (CPAR). The research was titled "Piloting CPAR in Selected Key corn-based Areas in Eastern Visayas."

The EVIARC research noted that with TPR's infusion to NC, first generation (F1) progenies exhibited large bodies which were 22 percent bigger than those of the NC. Moreover, F1 can be raised in a free-range manner two to three weeks after weaning almost similar to the native ones.

"Thus," the EVIARC emphasized in its award-winning study, "management of the improved flock does not significantly vary with existing practice."

Translating its body weight advantage, income derived from TPR production was 22 percent higher compared to NC.