Performance of Sonali Meat Chicken under Farming Condition at Keshabpur Upazila, Jashore

Abstract

Data were collected from 10 Sonali farms in 4 different villages of Keshabpur upazila of Jashore district of Bangladesh to explore knowledge about the Sonali chicken rearing practices. Maximum farmers reared Sonali in an intensive system, took brooding care. The feed items of Sonali were ready feed and handmade feed. The main water source was a tube well. However, most of the Sonali farmers used vaccines against ND, IBD, IB, F.POX and MAREK’S disease. The present study was aimed to study the trends of body weight gain in Sonali chickens under intensive farming conditions. Data on the study population comprised of 10 farms containing 1500 Sonali chickens on every farm were collected using a predefined questionnaire. Descriptive statistical analyses for variables were performed using SPSS. It was observed that around the same amount of handmade diet was supplied to chickens. Results show that the daily live-weight gain was measured to compare the mean weight gain in Sonali. The average feed intake by a bird at 1st, 10th, 20th, 35th, 45th, and 60th days was 5.50±0.17 gm, 13.41±0.15 gm, 24.60±0.62 gm, 34.00±0.76 gm, 42.70±0.94 gm, and 53.60±1.27 gm, respectively. The average body weight at 1st, 10th, 20th, 35th, 45th, and 60th days was 28.70±0.30 gm, 108.30±0.42 gm, 195.00±4.05 gm, 431.00±10.89 gm, 619.50±17.10 gm and 856.00±26.26 gm, respectively. These variations were highly significant (p<0.001) in Sonali chicken. The average FCR of Sonali chicken at marketing age was 2.1