Soybean meal is highly acceptable vegetable protein source in poultry industry, due to this demand of soybean meal is always high. But the increased use of soybean in human being is major challenge  of availability for poultry industry. Indegenous breed “Kadaknath” is well known for delicious black fl esh with special capabilities such as aphrodisiac properties, adaptability to local environment, resistance to certain diseases and meat quality. It has been neglected commercially because of its poor production

potential. In an experiment of twelve weeks, one hundred Kadaknath chicks were randomly divided into two equal groups with fi ve replicates, each replicate consisted of ten chicks. One of the two diets was supplemented with cysteine protease @ 250 gm per ton with 4% reduction of crude protein, lysine and methionine. The metabolizable energy was reduced at the level of 50 Kcal per Kg of diet to meet the requirement of the birds as per BIS (2007). Approximately min. 20 kg of soybean meal (45 % CP) was reduced in cysteine protease supplemented diet per ton. The body weight gain and FCR were statistically similar in both groups. The crude protein and crude fat digestibility were signifi cantly (P<0.05) higher in cysteine protease supplemented

group. Profi tability was numerically higher in cysteine protease group due to reduction of soybean meal in diet. In the above

study, it was concluded that cysteine protease is very economic enzyme to improve performance of birds and fulfi l scarcity of

high protein ingredients like soybean meal.