A study by a team from the Directorate of Poultry Research said 'genetic erosion is occurring because of the introduction of improved hybrid chicken varieties in the breeding tracts'. According to scientists, the 'home tract' of Aseel is AP, though it is present in parts of Odisha, MP, and Rajasthan. Ironically, the British Poultry Standards does not recognise the Telugu Aseel, but has given a thumbs up for the Thai Aseel, regrets Dr MN Khaja, senior geneticist.

Apart from Shammo, bred from Aseel by Thailand, several breeds in Europe have their ancestry in Aseel. It is now dependent on Thai Aseel for fighter birds and poultry needs. Pakistan, which got the Aseel from AP via Punjab, has already lost the breed thanks to cross-breeding with imported birds. City poultry researchers fear that the Telugu states will lose the Aseel breed if its purity is not maintained. The breed became popular in Telugu land during the Kakatiya and later Qutub Shahi period when it got its name Aseel, which in Arabic means pure or undiluted. Apart from Thailand, it is popular in Vietnam, Australia and Europe. Even an internet search on fighter or game birds returns the result as Aseel, the Thai fighter bird, despite it being a native of Telugu states. Thailand has hundreds of breeding centres for Aseel where genetic purity is maintained.

Thailand, which obtained the germplasm from Andhra Pradesh, has standardised Aseel and developed another equally lovely fighter breed, Shammo (or Shamo), from it. Unfortunately, it is now endangered in India itself due to genetic erosion and faces extinction threat.

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