Research Article
Austin J Vet Sci & Anim Husb. 2018; 5(2): 1045.
Economic Profitability of Broiler Farm Comparing the Two Commercial Broiler Strain
Rudra PG¹, Hasan T¹, Rony AH², Adrian G³, Debnath A¹, Islam F¹ and Paul P¹*
¹Department of Medicine and Surgery, Chittagong Veterinary and Animal Sciences University, Bangladesh
²Department of Dairy and Poultry Science, Chittagong Veterinary and Animal Sciences University, Bangladesh
³Department of Veterinary Medicine, University of Agriculture Sciences and Veterinary Medicine, Cluj- Napoca-400372, Romania
*Corresponding author: Paul P, Department of Medicine and Surgery, Chittagong Veterinary and Animal Sciences University, Khulshi-4220, Bangladesh
Received: April 28, 2018; Accepted: July 17, 2018; Published: July 24, 2018
Abstract
This study was conducted to investigate the economic profitability of two commercial broiler strains in Hathazari Upazilla, Chittagong. For the study purpose, we selected ten broiler farms in different place in study area. We took five Cobb-500 and five Lohmann strain rearing farm. An informative questionnaire developed for collecting data from study area. These studies mainly focused on determine economic traits of broiler strain. Mainly body weight, Feed Conversion Ratio (FCR) and Mortality rate were estimate for comparing the two strains. These parameters were considered from DOC (Dayold- chick) to thirty-two days. Cobb-500 strain shows the high body weight (avg. 2.4kg) than the Lohmann strain (avg. 2.16kg). Along with this, FCR also varies in these two strains. Cobb-500 also shows highest FCR (1.53) whereas Lohmann has less FCR (1.43). These variations may occur due to several factors such as strains, sex, feed, disease incidence, environmental condition, and so on. We also consider the mortality rate for comparing these two strains. Highest mortality rates (7%) are observed in the Lohmann strain. It may be concluded that, Cobb-500 may perform the best performance in body weight, FCR and Mortality rate than in Lohmann strain. As a result, Cobb-500 may also be recommended for commercial boiler production in Hathazari Upazilla.
Keywords: Broiler; Strains; Body weight; Production
Introduction
Broiler is an important part of commercial poultry sector. The modern meat chicken is a fast growing, highly efficient and can rapidly fulfill the shortage of protein requirement of the country, as it can be produced within a very short time compared to other meat producing animals. Broiler production provides employment and regular income within the shortest time possible due to its fastest body growth and shorter production cycle and low initial investment. Broiler chickens can play an important role to reduce the shortage of huge protein requirement in the country. Broiler meat is considered as a major source of high quality animal protein that required for body growth and mental development of an individual.
At present, broiler farming is being popular both in urban and rural areas. It has encouraged the people of different sections such as small farmers, landless laborers and educated unemployed as well as for industrialists to establish broiler farms on small & large scale. The growth performance of broiler bird might simply be a function of increased feed intake. Feed consumption followed similar trend to that of weight gain. According to [1], low cost of production and higher returns are the key factors for higher profit in broiler farming. Many people are now being encouraged in this enterprise as maximum return can be achieved shortly by investing minimum capital in broiler production.
Now-a-days, broiler industry has brought about revolutionary changes and extended tremendously during the last couple of decades across the globe. The body weight gain of the broiler strains has been markedly increased and the feed utilization has been strongly improved with the advancement of new technology applied in poultry nutrition as well as in genetics development. This progress in breeding and nutrition has resulted in broiler strains having higher performances today than ever before [2].
The major concept of the broiler industry is to increase the productivity of the broiler carcass to gain higher profit with low investment. The genetic contribution of the broiler chicken as well as non-genetic factors such as age of slaughter, sex, nutrition and management practices are equally responsible to boost the bird’s performances [3,4,5]. Considering this view, the present study was undertaken to find out the suitable strain and the performances of broiler chickens which give the higher meat yield and better profit under commercial farming condition.
Materials and Methods
The present study was undertaken to investigate the rearing management practices and economic profitability broiler strain commercial broiler farm at Hathazari Upazilla, Chittagong, Bangladesh.
Study area
The study was conducted at the different commercial broiler farms of Hathazari Upazilla, Chittagong. The necessary data of the farms were taken from March 2017 to June 2017. During this period data was collected from the ten selected commercial broiler farms available in that area.
Farm selection
Ten commercial broiler farms of the study areas were selected randomly for this study. The farm was consisting of five Cobb 500 strains and five Lohmann broiler strains.
Data collection
A questionnaire was developed to collect data from the selected farms. The collected data were shown in Table 1.
Parameters
Farms (F1….F10)
Cobb 500
Lohmann
F1
F2
F3
F4
F5
F6
F7
F8
F9
F10
Farm Size (sq.ft)
1200
1500
1200
4000
1600
600
2500
1300
1200
3000
Farm capacity (bird no.)
1000
1200
1000
3500
1500
600
2200
1200
1000
3000
No. of birds reared
900
1200
1000
3500
1400
500
2000
1000
1000
3000
Feed price (Tk/kg)
43
43
43.5
42.5
43
43
43
43
42
43
Mortality rate
3%
2%
10%
2%
3%
2%
5%
3%
15%
10%
Rearing length (days)
32
32
32
32
32
32
32
32
32
32
Amount of feed intake upto selling period (kg)
2955
3750
3103
8785
3391
1263
5909
2812
2948
7734
Body weight (Kg/b)
2.4
2.5
2.3
2.4
2.4
2.5
2.2
2
2.2
1.9
Floor per bird (sq.ft/b)
1.2
1.25
1.2
1.2
1.1
1.1
1.2
1
1.2
1
Selling cost (Tk/kg)
105
115
121
110
115
122
133
128
137
130
Table 1: Data collection from ten commercial broiler farms.
House preparation
The broiler house was prepared by washing and cleaning before entering the birds into the farms. For this purpose, different commercial disinfectant agents are used in the maximum farms. This chemical agent was mainly applied for washing the farm floor, drinker, feeder, hover, chick guard, foot wash, hand wash in different concentrate.
Source of day-old chick (DOC) collection
The farmers collected DOC from the different local breeder hatchery to execute their poultry farming business. The price of DOC very often varies ranging from 16Tk (minimum) to 75Tk (maximum), as reported by the farm owners.
Housing, feeding, watering and brooding management of the chicks
The chicks were reared in the floor system at the open sided housing condition from day-old to marketing age. The chicks were brooded 3 to 7 days with chick guard and hoover equipped with electric bulb. The floor space per bird was given 1 to 1.25 square feet. Birds were fed readymade broiler diet ad libitum collected from the different local feed companies. Fresh, clean drinking water was provided the birds all the rearing time. Pellet feed was preferred most of the time to feed their broiler. The price of the feed varies from 42Tk to 44Tk per kg. Brooding system of DOC and rearing system of broiler at twenty-four days are show in the Figure 1 and 2.
Figure 1: Brooding system of Day-old-chick.
Figure 2: Rearing system of broiler at 24 days.
Vaccination and medication
All the chicks were vaccinated against particular diseases and some medication was also provided the birds for their proper growth and development during the rearing period by the farmers.
Disease incidence and medication
Farmers were faced diseases problems with the birds while rearing those at their farming condition. These were assumed to be bacterial, viral, fungal or parasitic infections. The birds were seemed to be affected by the various diseases namely Colibacillosis, Salmonellosis, Infectious coryza, Newcastle disease, Infectious bursal disease, Brooder pneumonia, Coccidiosis etc. as per the sign and syndromes shown by the birds recorded in the farms. Farmer himself or registered veterinarian gives the treatment of these cases. Treatment is given by the mainly on the clinical signs and symptoms or by post mortem findings.
Statistical analyses
The collected data were analyzed after coding, decoding, summarized while locating at the CVASU campus with the correspondence of supervisor. Simple statistical methods such as mean and percentage etc. were used to analyze the collected data.
Calculation of production data
Feed intake of broiler chicken: Feed intake is measured from day one up to day thirty. It is calculated for one farm by total feed intake in farm is divided by total number of live birds. And finally estimate as mean value for finding the average value.
Body weight of broiler chicken: Body weight is collected from the broiler farm during selling time. Here only mean value of bird’s weight is estimated for each farm.
Feed Conversion Ratio (FCR): FCR is measured for one farm by the total feed intake (kg) is divided by the total body weight (kg).
Mortality: Mortality rate is calculated by percentage for record of each farm.
Cost-benefit analyses: Data on cost benefit analyses of broiler chickens were assessed from the various costs represent by the individual farm.
Results and Discussion
Growth performances and mortality of broiler chickens of two broiler strains
Feed intake of broiler chickens: The average feed intake of two broiler strains rearing in the different commercial farms are shown in the Table 2. The result shows that Cobb 500 consumed a little bit more feed than the Lohman strains on day thirty. Cobb 500 feed consumption ranges from 2.9 to 3.6 kg/bird while Lohmann strains 2.9 to 3.3 kg/bird respectively are observed in our current study (Table 2). The average Feed Intake of Cobb 500 and Lohmann was 3.1 and 3.04 respectively.
Strains
Farms-----
F1
F2
F3
F4
F5
Average
Cobb 500
FI (kg/b)
3.6
3.1
3
2.9
2.9
3.1
Lohmann
Farm -----
Farm 6
Farm 7
Farm 8
Farm 9
Farm 10
-
FI (kg/b)
3.2
3.3
3
2.9
2.8
3.04
Table 2: Rearing system of broiler at 24 days.
Body weight of broiler chickens: The average body weight of two broiler strains rearing in the different commercial farms are shown in the Table 3. The result shows that Cobb 500 gained a little bit more body weight than the Lohman strains on day thirty. Cobb 500body weight ranges from 2.3 to 2.5 kg/b while Lohmann strains 1.9 to 2.5 kg/b respectively are observed in our current study (Table 3). The average body weight of Cobb 500 and Lohmann was 2.4kg and 2.16kg respectively.
Strains
Farms-----
F1
F2
F3
F4
F5
Average
Cobb 500
BW (Kg/b)
2.4
2.5
2.3
2.4
2.4
2.4
Farm--
Farm 6
Farm 7
Farm 8
Farm 9
Farm 10
Lohmann
BW (Kg/b)
2.5
2.2
2
2.2
1.9
2.16
Table 3: Feed intake (FI) of broiler chickens at 30 days.
Feed Conversion Ratio (FCR): The feed conversion ratio (FCR) of two strains was measured on day thirty. The FCR values of Cobb 500 broiler strain were 1.47, 1.50, 1.54, 1.57, 1.59 and Lohmann strains farms being 1.41, 1.42, 1.45, 1.38 and 1.52 respectively (Figure 3). The average FCR value of Cob500 broiler strain was 1.53 whereas the FCR of Lohmann strain being 1.44 on days thirty. The value indicates that Cobb 500 strain is more efficient in converting feed to meat than that of Lohmann strain.
Figure 3: Comparative FCR of two commercial strain farms.
Mortality: The mortality (%) recorded for Cobb 500 broiler strains are 3%, 2%, 10%, 2%, 3% and the Lohmann strain are 2%, 5%, 3%, 15% and 10% respectively. The average mortality (%) recorded for Cobb 500was 4.0%, while the mortality (%) for Lohmann was 7 %. The result of mortality implies that Lohmann broiler strain had higher mortality than the Cobb 500 strain in this study. The comparative mortality rate of ten commercial broiler farms of two broiler strains are shown graphically through Figure 4.
Figure 4: Comparative mortality rate of ten commercial broiler farms.
Cost benefit analyses of two commercial broiler strains
The data of cost benefit analyses of two broiler strains are shown in Table 4 and 5. The data showed that profit of per kg live bird was higher for Cobb 500 broiler farms than that of Lohmann farms. The production cost was also lower in the Cobb 500 farms than that of Lohmann broiler farms. The higher production cost and low body weight gain might be a reason for low profitability of Lohmann broiler.
Parameters/Items
Farm 1
Farm 2
Farm 3
Farm 4
Farm 5
Live weight (kg/b) on the last day of trial 30days
2.4
2.5
2.3
2.4
2.4
No. of birds’ survivability/treat.
873
1176
900
3430
1358
Feed intake (kg/b) on 30 d
3.6
3.1
3
2.9
2.9
Feed cost (Tk/kg) on an average
43
43
43.5
42.5
43
Total Feed intake (kg)
2955
3750
3103
8785
3391
Total Feed cost (Tk)
127065(43×2955)
161250
134980
373362
145813
Total live weight (kg) of birds per treatment
2095.2(2.4×873)
2940
2070
8232
3259.2
A). Feed cost (Tk/kg live weight)
60.65(127065/2095.2)
54.85
65.21
45.35
44.74
Day-old chick cost (TK/bird)
16
38
70
29
25
B). Day-old chick cost (Tk/kg live bird)
6.67(16/2.4)
15.2
30.4
12
10.4
Other costs include:
i) Vaccination cost
2500
4000
2500
10000
4000
ii) Medication cost
1000
2000
1000
3000
2000
iii) Disinfectant cost
500
500
500
1000
1000
iv) Bulb & wire cost
500
500
500
1000
1000
v) Water & Electricity cost
1000
1000
1000
1500
700
v) Labour cost
5000
5000
5000
1000
5000
vi) Transport cost
1000
1500
1000
3000
1200
Total other cost (Tk) [ i….vi]
11500
14500
11500
20500
14900
Other cost (Tk/kg live wt)
5.49(11500/2095.2)
4.9
5.6
2.5
4.57
C). Other cost (Tk/kg live weight)
5.49
4.9
5.6
2.5
4.57
D). Total production cost (Tk/kg live wt.) [A+B+C]
72.81
74.95
101.21
59.85
59.71
E). Selling live bird market price (Tk/kg live bird)
105
115
121
110
115
Profit (Tk/kg live bird) [E-D]
32.19
40.05
19.79
50.15
55.29
Table 4: Detail Cost Benefit analysis of Cobb500 strains farms.
Parameters/Items
Farm 6
Farm 7
Farm 8
Farm 9
Farm 10
Live weight (kg/b) on the last day of trial 30days
2.5
2.2
2
2.2
1.9
No. of birds’ survivability / treat.
588
1900
970
850
2700
Feed intake (kg/b) on 30 d
3.2
3.3
3
2.9
2.8
Feed cost (Tk/kg) on an average
43
43
43
42
43
Total Feed intake (kg)
1263
5909
2812
2948
7734
Total Feed cost (Tk)
54309(43×1263)
254087
120916
123816
332562
Total live weight (kg) of birds per treatment
1470(2.5×588)
4180
1940
1870
5130
A). Feed cost (Tk/kg live weight)
36.9(54309/1470)
60.79
62.3
66.2
64.8
Day-old chick cost (TK/bird )
21
70
72
55
42
B). Day-old chick cost (Tk/kg live bird)
8.4(21/2.5)
31.8
36
25
22.1
Other costs include:
i) Vaccination cost
2000
10000
4500
4000
11000
ii) Medication cost
1000
4000
2500
5500
6000
iii) Disinfectant cost (iosan & phenyl)
500
1000
600
700
1200
iv) Bulb & wire cost
500
1000
800
1000
1500
v) Water & Electricity cost
500
1000
1000
1000
1000
v) Labour cost
5000
6000
5000
600
12000
vi) Transport cost
1000
3000
1200
1500
3000
Total other cost (Tk) [ i…..vi]
10500
26000
15600
14300
35700
Other cost (Tk/kg live wt)
7.14(10500/1470)
6.22
8.04
7.65
6.96
C). Other cost (Tk/kg live weight)
7.14
6.22
8.04
7.65
6.96
D). Total production cost (Tk/kg live wt.) [A+B+C]
52.44
98.81
106.34
98.85
93.86
E). Selling live bird market price (Tk/kg live bird)
122
133
128
137
130
Profit (Tk/kg live bird) [E-D]
69.56
34.19
21.66
38.15
36.14
Table 5: Detail Cost benefit analysis of Lohmann strains of five farms.
The aim of this study was to focus on the productivity and assessing of economic profitability of comparing two commercial broiler strains and also their management system in Hathazari Upazilla, Chittagong. Traditionally, the salient criteria for estimating the performance of the broiler strains have been growth rate and feed conversion efficiency, and less frequently, carcass yield and composition [6,7,8]. Some strains might show higher mortalities and a great variation in final body weight than others due to several factors (strains, sex, feed, disease incidences, environmental condition and so on). However, a bit differences were observed in the live weight and average body weight gain between the two broiler strains rearing under the farming conditions of the Hathazari, Chittagong in this recent study. Cobb 500 broiler strain achieved heavier body weight and higher weight gain than the Lohmann strain. The improved body weight gains of this strain, possibly due to higher feed intake including several other factors. Our results are in agreement with the reports of several other previous researchers [9,10], who found similar variations in rearing different strains under experimental conditions. The differences of the live weight and weight gain of the broiler strains might be explained by different factors, for example, genotype, feed, sex, strains, environmental conditions, climatic effects and so on. Gonzales E et.al. found strain effects among several strains of birds in live weight [9]. Korver DR et.al. reported that genotype might affect the body weight of different broiler strains [11]. Genetic variation of the strains amongst other factors might give rise to body weight variation between two individual birds. So it is assumed that more weight gain of Cobb 500 broiler strain might arise from the genetic make-up during the embryonic stage, which can lead to having different growth potential, and it may be possible owing to the strain effect, and some other factors might be involved herewith.
The Cobb 500 broiler strain had higher profit than the Lohman strain as observed in this study. The increased profitability of Cobb 500 broiler strains might be a result of higher body weight gain and lower production cost. The cost-benefit assessment of a poultry enterprise is often determined by the level of risk to which the reared flocks are exposed to bio-security measures [12,13,14]. Apart from these, the profit margin in poultry production depends mainly on feed utilization, cost of day-old chicks and efficient management of such resources as land, day laborers and appliances [15]. Studies on the financial dynamics of smallholder farms, poultry production and profits can be increased by the use of appropriate feed, capital, vaccines and adoption innovative approaches [16,17,18].
Conclusion
From the study it may be concluded that Cobb 500 broiler strain had better body weight, low mortality and higher profit than the Lohmann strain. It implies that Cobb 500 has good potentials to be reared profitably under farming condition.
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