Backyard poultry rearing is practiced widely all across the globe and in India it is recognized as one important tool for increasing income levels in rural areas and also for meeting nutritional security. At the face of it supplementary feeding for backyard poultry may sound out of place since generally they are kept on foraging.However given the genetic improvements that have gone into poultry varieties suited for backyard poultry rearing,today they potentially lay 150-180 eggs/annum and attain higher body weights, is it not indispensable to offer a protein feed for optimum egg production and body weights ?