Analysis of the Farming Value and Economic Benefits of Peafowl
The peafowl is a treasure from head to tail. As peafowl are raised on a large scale, more and more people can enjoy the taste of "phoenix" meat, and peafowl meat has high nutritional and edible value. Peafowl yield a large amount of meat, with a fully drawn slaughter rate of over 80%. Its meat is tender, and peafowl meat is a healthy food that is high in protein and low in fat. Its protein content is as high as 23.2%, far higher than that of ordinary poultry, and higher than that of frog, snake, soft-shelled turtle, lobster and grouper. It is rich in more than 20 kinds of amino acids as well as vitamins and trace elements, and its fat content is only 0.8%.
Peafowl also has medicinal value. Li Shizhen, a famous pharmacologist of the Ming Dynasty in our country, recorded in the Compendium of Materia Medica that the peafowl wards off evil and can neutralize a hundred poisons. Peafowl meat and blood have detoxifying effects, mainly treating drug poisoning and gu poisoning; the droppings also have the effect of detoxifying and promoting urination, mainly treating leukorrhea in women, difficult urination, malignant sores and other conditions. Modern traditional Chinese pharmacology has verified that peafowl meat has the effects of nourishing yin and clearing heat, calming the liver and extinguishing wind, and softening hardness and dispersing masses.
The two species of the genus Pavo have males with a body length of 90-130 cm (35-50 in), with a train up to 150 cm (60 in) long, in vivid metallic green.
The peafowl's train is mainly composed of the upper tail coverts above the tail. These coverts are extremely long, and the feather tips bear iridescent "eyespots" surrounded by blue and bronze. During courtship display, the male peafowl raises the tail beneath the train, thereby lifting the train and pushing it forward. At the climax of the courtship display, the tail feathers quiver, shimmer and glow, and produce a rattling sound. Its flying ability is not very good, because it is somewhat heavy and its wings are not that powerful.
The peafowl's body shape is about as large as a goose, standing three or four chi tall, with a slender neck, a raised back, and three hairs about one cun long on its head. They often gather in flocks of dozens to fly together, and at dawn their calls rise one after another. The peafowl's wings are not very well developed, and its flight speed is slow and appears clumsy, only becoming slightly faster when gliding downward. Its legs, however, are strong and powerful, and it is good at running fast; when fleeing, it mostly dashes with great strides. When foraging, its walking posture is the same as a chicken's, nodding as it walks.