Management practices, Growth performance and Production of Sonali chicken in Brahmanbaria, Bangladesh

Abstract

The current study was carried out to evaluate information on the productivity of sonali chicken, their rearing practices and opportunities in intensive farming. This study was performed to identify and described the performance of sonali chicken farm of Bijoynagar upazilla under Brahmanbaria district. A sonali chicken farm was selected for the study where the number of birds were 1000(female:600 ,male:400). The chickens were reared for 64 days (9 weeks) and then marketed. Average feed intake during 9 weeks 61gm per bird.After 9 weeks The average body weights of female and male birds were 805gm. The FCR, performance efficiency factor, feed price ratio, performance efficiency index, livability and cost benefit ratio were 3.07, 262.2, 2.22, 249.1, 95% and 1.42 respectively. The study found that raising Sonali birds particularly for meat production, where they performed better than other birds in terms of adaptability and benefit-cost ratio. The live weight of sonali chickens was lower than that of commercial broilers but Sonali meat raised almost twice the price of commercial broiler meat. So, raising sonali birds has good potential in supplying meat for the whole country, increasing incomes and generating employment.