Sonali (meaning golden) is a crossbred chicken (Gallus domesticus L.) derived from a cross between Rhode Island Red (RIR) cock and Fayoumi hen that has an appearance and taste similar to the local and nondescript chickens called Deshi (meaning indigenous). It was introduced in the northern parts of Bangladesh during 1996 and 2000 which created employment opportunities for millions of rural women [1]. According to a recent report, the consumption of Sonali chickens has increased up to 45% in July 2019 compared to its 20% consumption in July 2018 [2]. 

The status of chicken industry in Bangladesh has been reviewed by several authors who emphasized that chicken farming has created employment, improved food security and enhanced supply of quality protein to people’s meal, thus contributing country’s economic growth and reducing poverty in rural and urban areas [2,3]. According to an estimate by the Bangladesh Poultry Industries Central Committee (BPICC), the total investment in the poultry sector in Bangladesh is about Tk. 3500 million and it has created employment opportunities for over 6 million people, which is likely to employ a total of 10 million people by 2021, majority of them being unemployed youth and women [4,5]

Major literature on the status of Sonali chicken farming in various parts of the country includes [6-10,1]. In addition, impacts of socioeconomic parameters [11-13,2] farm size [14,15] rearing seasons [16,17,1819] and productivity, mortality and profitability of poultry birds [20-28] have been dealt with by a number of researchers at home and abroad. 

The aim of the present study was to report an updated scenario of the Sonali chicken farming in six districts of Rajshahi Division to assess district-, farm- and season-wise variations in the productivity, mortality and profitability components of the private poultry farms from the commercial point of view. Moreover, both farmers’ and consumers’ attitude toward Sonali chickens and consumers’ demand and the prevailing marketing systems of the birds were also evaluated during the study.

Study area 

Poultry farms from six adjacent districts of Rajshahi Division, viz., Bogura, Joypurhat, Natore, Pabna, Rajshahi and Sirajgonj (Fig. 1), that used to rear crossbred Sonali chickens (derived from Fayoumi hen × Rhode Island Red (RIR) cock), were selected for collecting experimental data. The survey was conducted using a pre-structured questionnaire for a period of one year from March 2019 to February 2020.

Fig. 1 Map of Rajshahi Division showing the districts under study area. 

(Source: https://www.google.com)

Farm size 

A total of 41 poultry farms, consisting of 12 small (<1000 birds), 15 medium (1000-2999 birds) and 14 large (≥3000 birds), distributed throughout the aforesaid districts of Rajshahi Division were selected at random for collecting relevant data.

Rearing seasons 

Data for three rearing seasons of the fiscal years 2018-2019 and 2019-2020, namely, summer (March-June), rainy (July-October) and winter (November-February), were used for the study.

Socioeconomic parameters

Such vital socioeconomic parameters as farm age (yrs), shed types, owners’ education and training, bio-safety measures, availability of bank loan and technical help from Department of Livestock Services (DLS), were considered for the study. Score 3 was assigned for concrete sheds, 2 for sheds made of corrugated tin roofs and bamboo walls, and 1 for sheds made of straw roofs and bamboo walls. Score 5 was assigned for post-graduates, 4 for graduates, 3 for HSC, 2 for SSC, 1 for primary and 0 for illiterate farmers. Proportions of trained and untrained farmers were recorded along with their practicing bio-safety measures. In addition, percentage of farmers receiving loans from banks and help/advice from DLS were also recorded during the survey. 

Assessment of farmers’ and consumers’ attitudes, demand and marketing systems 

Data on both farmers’ and consumers’ attitudes toward Sonali chickens (positive, neutral or negative), consumers’ demand (high, moderate or low) and the prevailing marketing systems (credit versus cash and direct versus middlemen) of the birds were collected.

Estimates of productivity and mortality 

Productivity of Sonali chicken farms in the study area was estimated by the number of marketable birds produced per farm per season. The number of dead birds per farm per season was recorded for estimating mortality (%) per 100 day-old chicks (DOCs).

Estimates of profitability components 

Components like average DOC buying price, per kg selling prices of Sonali, broiler (Cobb 500) and Deshi live birds; feed cost, medicinal cost for disinfectants, vaccines, vitamins and antibiotics, miscellaneous costs for electricity, day labour, transportation etc; and gross cost (GC), gross return (GR), net profit (NP) and profitability index (PI) per flock were calculated for all three farm sizes under study. Farm-wise NP/flock and NI/flock were calculated by using the formulae: GR/flock - GC/flock and GR/flock ÷ GC/flock, respectively. Procedures described [22,14] were followed.

Statistical analyses 

Initially, descriptive statistics such as mean ±SE and percentages were calculated from the raw data. Subsequently, the data for productivity, mortality and profitability components were subjected to one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA), where the levels of significance were set at P<0.05, and the means were separated using least significant difference (LSD) tests [29]. Moreover, Karl Pearson’s two-tailed co-efficient of correlation values (r) between socioeconomic parameters, productivity, mortality and profitability components were calculated. All experimental data were analyzed using SPSS for Widows (version 21.0).

Socioeconomic parameters of Sonali chicken farmers

District-wise socioeconomic parameters of Sonali chicken farmers have been shown in Table 1. Results revealed that farm age significantly differed (P<0.05) between the Sonali chicken farms under study. Although shed type scores, owners’ education scores and owners’ training did not differ significantly between the farmers in the study area (P>0.05), the differences between bio-safety scores (P<0.01), bank loan (P<0.001) and DLS help (P<0.001) each was found to differ significantly among the Sonali chicken farmers. The impacts of these parameters on the productivity and profitability parameters of Sonali chicken farming in Rajshahi Division have further been elaborated in the following paragraphs.

Table 1: Socioeconomic parameters of Sonali chicken farmers in Rajshahi Division

All F-values are at 5, 35 degrees of freedom; Dissimilar superscripts differ significantly by LSD tests (P<0.05).

Table 2: Farmers’ and consumers’ attitudes, consumers’ demand and marketing systems of Sonali chickens in Rajshahi Division

Attitudes, demands and marketing systems 

Farmers’ and consumers’ attitudes, consumers’ demand and existing marketing systems for Sonali chickens are presented in Table 2. Farmers of Natore and Sirajgonj districts expressed their absolute (100%) positive attitudes toward Sonali, whereas farmers of Bogura and Joypurhat (75% each), Rajshahi (60%) and Pabna (50%) expressed an overall positive attitude in favour of the birds. The consumers’ attitudes toward Sonali chickens, on the other hand, were in the following order: 100% positive (Natore, Pabna and Sirajgonj) > 75% positive (Bogura and Joypurhat) > 60% positive (Rajshahi). As regards the demand, most consumers expressed their opinions in favour of Sonali chickens in the descending order of: Bogura (75%) > Natore and Sirajgonj (67% each) > Rajshahi (60%) > Pabna (50%). Selling of Sonali in credits prevailed as compared to selling in cash in the following order: Sirajgonj (100%) > Joypurhat (75%) > Bogura and Pabna (50% each) > Rajshahi (45%) > Natore (33%). Finally, direct selling of Sonali birds by the farmers in Bogura and Pabna (100% each) was the highest followed by the farmers in Natore (50%), Rajshahi (45%) and Sirajgonj (33%), while selling through middle men dominated by the farmers in Joypurhat (100%), followed by the farmers in Sirajgonj (67%), Rajshahi (55%) and Natore (50%).

DOC price, productivity, mortality and live chicken prices

Table 3 exhibits variations in DOC price, production of the number of live marketable birds, mortality and prices of Sonali, broiler and Deshi chickens in six districts under study. The DOC prices ranged approximately between Tk. 16 in Natore and Tk. 23 in Pabna, the number of live birds between 888 in Joypurhat and 5875 in Bogura, and the mortality between 0.06 in Bogura and 0.18 in Joypurhat and Pabna, all showing statistically insignificant fluctuations (P>0.05). Per kg prices of live Sonali birds ranged approximately between Tk. 173 in Sirajgonj and Tk. 191 in Bogura. Broiler birds, on the other hand, were sold approximately at the lowest price of Tk. 89 per kg in Sirajgonj and at the highest price of Tk. 101 in Bogura. The lowest price for the Deshi birds was recorded in Sirajgonj at Tk. 237 per kg and the highest price of Tk. 246 per kg was found in both Bogura and Pabna. Notably, the variations in the prices of three common live birds in the study area, however, were not found to be statistically significant (P>0.05).   

Table 3: DOC price, productivity, mortality and prices of Sonali, broiler and Deshi live birds in Rajshahi Division 

All F-values are at 5, 35 degrees of freedom; Dissimilar superscripts differ significantly by LSD tests (P<0.05).

Effects of rearing seasons on DOC price, productivity, mortality and live chicken prices 

Figs. 2 and 3 show season-wise variations in productivity, mortality and prices of DOCs, Sonali, broiler and Deshi chickens in the study area. DOC price was minimum in winter (Tk. 13.25±0.78) and maximum in rainy season (Tk. 20.64±0.96), and the difference in prices between seasons was highly significant one (P<0.001). The difference in Sonali productivity between rearing seasons was also significant (P<0.05), where summer yielded the highest number of birds (4028±913) followed by rainy (2914±895) and winter (1938±850) seasons. Unlike DOC price and chicken productivity, however, mortality was not affected significantly by the seasonal variations (P= 0.153), but relatively a higher mortality of Sonali chickens was recorded in winter (0.13±0.02) than in summer (0.09±0.01) and rainy (0.09±0.02) seasons. Prices of Sonali, broiler and Deshi chickens did not vary significantly throughout the rearing seasons (P>0.05 for all three), where the birds were sold per kg on average at Tk. 187, Tk. 99 and Tk. 244, respectively in summer, Tk. 177, Tk. 96 and Tk. 243, respectively in rainy, and Tk. 173, Tk. 95 and Tk. 245, respectively in winter.

District-wise profitability components 

Data on various profitability components for Sonali chicken farming in the study area (Table 5) revealed that apart from medicinal cost, feed cost, miscellaneous costs, and GC and GR per flock did not differ significantly between districts (P>0.5). The same was true for the NP and PI values. However, the estimated PI indicated that Sonali chicken farming in Bogura (1.16) and Rajshahi (1.06) were much profitable than Pabna (0.99), Joypurhat (0.97), Natore (0.92) and Sirajgonj (0.92) districts of the Rajshahi Division.

Table 5: Profitability components for Sonali chicken farming in Rajshahi Division

All F-values are at 5, 35 degrees of freedom; GC= gross cost, GR= gross return, NP= net profit, PI= profitability index; Dissimilar superscripts differ significantly by LSD tests (P<0.05). 

Effects of farm size on productivity, mortality and profitability components 

The number of Sonali chicken production (P<0.001) and their mortality (P<0.01) were both affected significantly by the size of the farms in the study area (Table 6). On average, large farms yielded 6714 live marketable birds in comparison with 1673 and 725 birds respectively, produced by the medium and small farms. Moreover, the lowest mortality (0.06±0.01) was recorded in large farms compared to mortalities in the medium (0.13±0.02) and small (0.12±0.01) farms. The differences in GC (P<0.001), GR (P<0.001) and NP (P<0.01) per flock were also highly significant due to farm size, although differences in PI were insignificant between the large, medium and small farms.

Table 6: Farm-wise productivity, mortality and profitability components of Sonali chicken farming in Rajshahi Division

All F-values are at 2, 38 degrees of freedom; Dissimilar superscripts differ significantly by LSD tests (P<0.05); GC= gross cost, GR= gross return, NP= net profit, PI= profitability index.

Effects of rearing seasons on profitability components

Season-wise costs, returns, NP and PI of Sonali chicken farming in the study area are presented in Table 7. The results clearly indicated that on average NP per flock was highest in summer (Tk. 67795) and lowest in winter (Tk. 14787), even though all the profitability components were statistically insignificant due to seasonal variations (P>0.05). The average estimated PI values were 1.02, 1.00 and 1.04 for summer, rainy and winter seasons respectively, but the statistical difference was also an insignificant one (P>0.05).

Table 7: Seasonal effects on profitability components for Sonali chicken farming in Rajshahi Division

All F-values are at 2, 38 degrees of freedom; Dissimilar superscripts differ significantly by LSD tests (P<0.05); GC= gross cost, GR= gross return, NP= net profit, PI= profitability index.

Correlations between some socioeconomic parameters, productivity, mortality and profitability components 

Karl Pearson’s two-tailed co-efficient of correlation (r) values between some socioeconomic parameters, productivity, mortality and profitability components of Sonali chicken farming in Rajshahi Division are shown in Table 8. Analyses revealed that associations between the farm size and the number of live birds produced (P<0.001), mortality of chicks (P<0.01) and NP per flock (P<0.01) were highly significant ones. In addition, farm age and shed types each also had significant correlation with NP per flock (P<0.05) and mortality (P<0.05), respectively in the study area. All other parameters had insignificant association with the productivity, mortality and profitability components for the Sonali farming.

Table 8: Correlations between some socioeconomic parameters, productivity and profitability components for Sonali chicken farming in Rajshahi Division

All r-values are at 39 degrees of freedom; NP= net profit, PI= profitability index, P= probabilities.

An elaborate account of the current status of Sonali chicken farming in six districts of Rajshahi Division has been investigated in terms of socioeconomic parameters, variations in farm size and rearing seasons, productivity and mortality, and profitability components per flock per year. In addition, both farmers’ and consumers’ attitude toward Sonali chickens, consumers’ demand, prices and the prevailing marketing systems of the popular crossbred bird have been assessed during the study.  

Previous reports on the socioeconomic parameters of the broiler poultry farmers in Gazipur[11-13,2] revealed that vital factors such as farm size, farmers’ experience, education and training, access to bank/personal credit, vaccination, poultry extension facilities, modern husbandry practices and marketing system variously affected the poultry population and consequent profit of the farms. The present findings on Sonali farming in Rajshahi Division lend support to the above authors with regard to farm age, bio-safety measures, bank loan and DLS help.  Moreover, significant associations between the farm size, farm age, shed types and the number of live birds produced per farm, mortality of growing chicks and NP per flock were found in the present study, which are in well agreement with those reported in Ethiopia [30-33]

Farmers’ and consumers’ attitudes toward Sonali chickens, demand and marketing systems for the birds in Rajshahi Division are reported here for the first time as no literature is available from published Bangladeshi sources to compare. The present results clearly indicated that Sonali is a popular breed of chickens which is equally liked by the farmers and consumers in the study area. In addition, present data on productivity, mortality, market prices and profitability components for Sonali chicken farming are all in favour of its sustainability and commercial viability in Rajshahi Division. 

Farm or flock size and stocking density had profound influence on both productivity and profitability of the poultry birds. Thus parameters like live weight and cost per bird were higher for small flocks in comparison to those for the medium and large flocks; whereas NP per flock was in the order of: large flocks > medium flocks > small flocks [14]. Similarly, daily weight gain, economic performance and bird welfare were found to be positively associated with the flocking density [15]. These findings conform to our results, where small farms produced fewer numbers of live birds as compared to the medium and large farms, but the lowest mortality was recorded in large farms compared to mortalities in the medium and small farms. The difference in NP per flock was in the order of: large farms > medium farms > small farms.

Seasonal variables like temperature, relative humidity (RH), rainfall, sunshine hours and rainy days played a significant role in body weight, sexual maturity and egg shape index of broiler poultry in India [16]. In Brazil, on the other hand, feed intake, feed conversion ratio (FCR) and body weight of broiler chickens were significantly higher in winter than summer, which resulted in increased production and profit per flock [17]. Likewise, the costs of DOCs, rearing, breeding and medication for poultry farms in Pakistan were also higher in winter than summer, but the price of broiler was lower in summer compared to that in winter [18]. Winter was the best season for the small-scale broiler farmers to earn profitability in terms of FCR, live weight and benefit-cost ratio (BCR) in all the selected poultry farms in Assam, India [19]. These are in good agreement with those of ours because season-wise variations in DOC price, number of marketable bird production and mortality were significant between the three farm sizes in Rajshahi Division, where DOC price was minimum in winter and maximum in rainy season. The highest number of birds was yielded in summer followed by rainy and winter seasons. Relatively higher mortality of Sonali chickens was recorded in winter than in summer and rainy seasons. But the prices of Sonali, broiler and Deshi chickens, however, did not vary significantly between the three rearing seasons.

The production of Sonali chickens in commercial farms at Joypurhat, Mymensingh, Gazipur, Bogura and Naogaon districts of Bangladesh gradually increased since 2010 [7,24,1,8] where Sonali performed better than other birds in terms of adaptability and BCR. In addition, people preferred Sonali chickens to Deshi birds. Moreover, Sonali DOCs represented about 35% of the commercial broiler and layer production throughout the country [9]. In a couple of recent studies, Sonali chickens were found to have relatively high meat content and has been the fastest growing segment of poultry in Bangladesh [28,10]. These reports lend support to the present findings with regard to the farm- and season-wise productivity of Sonali chickens in the study area. The overall mortality of Sonali chickens was age-related and was found to have a wide range of variations as high as 53.33%  [34] and as low as 3.8% [35] depending on the rearing seasons and regions of the country. Our data on mortality, the highest in winter followed by summer and rainy seasons, however, did not agree with those reported by previous workers [34-37] perhaps due to the fact that Rajshahi Division belongs to a different agro-climatic zone of Bangladesh. 

Estimated GC, GR and NP for 1000 broiler birds were at Tk. 99429, 109961 and 3631, respectively [38]. The highest BCR for Sonali was 1.11 followed by RIR and Fayoumi (1.10 each) and Cobb 500 (1.09) [20]; whereas average GC and GR for broilers per farm per year was Tk. 301142 and 431400, respectively, where the broiler farming had a much higher BCR of 1.80 [21]. The average GC and GR values for 1000 Sonali chickens in Gazipur District were estimated at Tk. 120613 and 172672, respectively; where the calculated BCR was found to be 1.4 [24]. Again, Sonali intensive meat producing breed had 1.49 BCR compared to commercial broiler (1.22) and commercial layer (1.11) farms, indicating that Sonali birds provided a profitable venture [28]; in contrast, much higher BCR of 2.60 was estimated for a popular breed called Vanaraja in Assam, India [26]

Profitability index (PI) of the government farms was found to vary between -0.09 and -0.13; while that in the private farms ranged between 0.18 and 0.52; where Sonali was the most popular and cheapest breed compared to Fayoumi and RIR chickens (Islam et al., 2012). NP of Tk. 27.58±2.40, BCR of 1.25±0.02 and PI of 0.20±0.01 was estimated for Sonali chickens in the northern districts of Bangladesh [22]. Data from Brahmanbaria, Shariatpur and Sylhet districts showed that Sonali chicken rearing was a profitable enterprise as indicated by its higher BCR [23]. GC, GR, and profitability values for broiler production in Mymensingh district also revealed that poultry production was profitable [25]. In Pakistan, the average profit of large broiler poultry farms was Rs. 85228 followed by medium (Rs. 58049) and small (Rs. 36090) farms [27]. In the country, data from commercial poultry farms in Mymensingh district showed the following profitability analysis: average GC and GR per farm per year were Tk. 217355 and 393106, respectively, where the BCR per farm per year was 1.55 [28]. In contrast, the average GC, GR and NP per flock of the present large farms were Tk. 728751, 825115 and 96364, respectively, which were significantly higher than those of the medium and small farms. Apart from these, farm-wise GC, GR and NP per flock values in the order of large farms > medium > small farms also corroborate to our present results. However, PI of the small farms was negative indicating a losing concern, and the difference in PI values between the large and medium farms was not statistically significant. The apparent differences in profitability components between our findings and those of the aforesaid reports might have resulted due to the variations, among others, in the stocking density of the farms, rearing seasons and farm management practices.

Here we report the current status of Sonali chicken farming in Rajshahi Division, Bangladesh, in terms of some socioeconomic parameters, both farmers’ and consumers’ attitudes, consumers’ demand and the existing marketing systems, productivity of the number of marketable chickens per farm, mortality, and prices of live Sonali, broiler and Deshi chickens along with profitability components. Results of the present survey are quite encouraging, indicated by the facts that Sonali chicken farming is a popular, commercially viable and profitable enterprise in study area.   

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This forms a part of doctoral work by the MFH. We are thankful to the Chairman, Department of Zoology, University of Rajshahi, Bangladesh, for providing necessary laboratory facilities. Sincere thanks are due to the owners and managers of the selected poultry farms without whose cooperation this work could not have been completed. We also appreciate the technical assistance received from the Laboratory Attendant Mr. Tipu Sultan.

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest

No funding sources

The study was approved by the University of Rajshahi, Rajshahi 6205, Bangladesh.

1. FAO. Comparative Performance of Sonali Chickens, Commercial Broilers, Layers, and Local Non-Descript (Deshi) Chickens in Selected Areas of Bangladesh. Animal Production and Health Working Paper no. 14 2015.

2. Hasan, K. "Experts Say: Misleading Research Has Scared Consumers Away from Broiler Chicken." Dhaka Tribune, 20 Dec. 2019, www.dhakatribune.com.

3. Rahman, M. S., et al. "Poultry Industry of Bangladesh: Entering a New Phase." Korean Journal of Agricultural Science 44.2 (2017), pp. 272-282, https://doi.org/10.7744/kjoas.20170027.

4. Mahmud, R. "Covid-19 Disrupts Bangladesh’s Poultry Sector." Poult. World, 6 Nov. 2020, www.poultryworld.net/Home/General/2020/11/Covid-19-disrupts-Bangladeshs-poultry-sector-666555E.

5. Saleque, M. A., and F. H. Ansarey. "Poultry Industry: Challenges and Solutions." Daily Sun, 29 Aug. 2020, www.daily-sun.com/printversion/details/502289/.

6. Azharul, I. M., et al. "Comparison of Growth Rate and Meat Yield Characteristics of Cockerels Between Fayoumi and Sonali under Village Conditions in Bangladesh." Livestock Research for Rural Development 17.2 (2005), Article #21, www.lrrd.org/lrrd17/2/azha17021.htm.

7. Huque, K. S., M. A. Saleque, and R. Khatun. Commercial Poultry Production in Bangladesh. Bangladesh Livestock Research Institute (BLRI), Savar, Dhaka, 2012.

8. Mitchell, A. "Can the Sonali Chicken Cross-Breed Improve the Poultry Industry in Bangladesh?" The Poultry Site, 2015, thepoultrysite.com/articles/can-the-sonali-chicken-crossbreed-improve-the-poultry-industry-in-bangladesh.

9. SAARC Agriculture Centre. Backyard Poultry Production Systems in SAARC Member States. SAARC Agriculture Centre, 2017, www.sac.org.bd.

10. Netherlands Enterprise Agency (NEA). Poultry Sector Study Bangladesh. Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Bangladesh, 2020.

11. Alam, M., et al. "Socio-Economic Status of the Farmers and Economic Analysis of Poultry Farming at Gazipur District in Bangladesh." International Journal of Natural Sciences 4.2 (2014), pp. 8-12, https://doi.org/10.3329/ijns.v4i2.28598.

12. Ali, Y., et al. "Impact of Socio-Economic Factors on Production Performance of Small and Medium Size Broiler Farming in Bangladesh." Journal of New Sciences in Agricultural Biotechnology 15.1 (2015), pp. 479-487, www.jnsciences.org.

13. Shahjahan, M., and A. K. F. H. Bhuiyan. "Socio-Economic Condition and Indigenous Poultry Production Scenario in a Selected Cluster Area of Bangladesh." Asian Australasian Journal of Bioscience and Biotechnology 1.3 (2016), pp. 557-563.

14. El-Tahawy, A. A. S., et al. "Effect of Flock Size on the Productive and Economic Efficiency of Ross 308 and Cobb 500 Broilers." European Poultry Science 81 (2017), doi: 10.1399/eps.2017.175.

15. Bergeron, S., et al. "Commercial Poultry Production Stocking Density Influence on Bird Health and Performance Indicators." Animals 10 (2020), p. 1253, doi: 10.3390/ani10081253.

16. Nayak, G. D., et al. "Effect of Climatic Variables on Production and Reproduction Traits of Colored Broiler Breeder Poultry." Veterinary World 8.4 (2015), pp. 472-477, www.veterinaryworld.org/Vol.8/April-2015/7.pdf.

17. Osti, R. I., et al. "Climatic Variation: Effects on Stress Levels, Feed Intake, and Bodyweight of Broilers." Brazilian Journal of Poultry Science 19.3 (2017), pp. 489-496, http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/1806-9061-2017-0494.

18. Naeem, M., and M. Khan. "Economic Assessment of Seasonal Variations in Poultry Farming: The Case of District Nowshera, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa." Sarhad Journal of Agriculture 35.2 (2019), pp. 408-416, http://dx.doi.org/10.17582/journal.sja/2019/35.2.408.416.

19. Sarma, M., et al. "Effect of Season on Performance of Broiler Chicken under Deep Litter System of Management in Assam." International Journal of Livestock Research 9.7 (2019), pp. 246-253, doi: 10.5455/ijlr.20181029040524.

20. Islam, M. S., M. A. Kabir, and R. K. Dutta. "Productivity, Cost-Benefit Analyses, Market Prices and Constraints to Poultry Farming in the Northern Districts of Bangladesh." Journal of Life and Earth Sciences 7 (2012), pp. 21-27, https://www.banglajol.info/index.php/JLES.

21. Akter, A. "Financial Profitability and Resource Use Efficiency of Broiler Farming in a Selected Area of Bangladesh." M.S. thesis, Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University, Dhaka, Bangladesh, 2013.

22. Islam, M. S., and R. K. Dutta. "Impacts of Vitamin A and Essential Amino Acids on Growth Performance, Survivability, Carcass Characteristics and Profitability of a Crossbred Chicken (Gallus domesticus L.) in Rajshahi, Bangladesh." International Journal of Scientific Research and Environmental Sciences 2.5 (2014), pp. 174-183, http://dx.doi.org/10.12983/ijsres-2014-p0174-0183.

23. Sumy, M. C., et al. "Viability and Profitability of Different Segments in the Poultry Model Chain in Bangladesh." Livestock Research for Rural Development 26 (2014), Article #187, www.lrrd.org/lrrd26/10/sumy26187.htm.

24. Uddin, M. T., S. J. Mitu, and I. A. Begum. "Production of Sonali Chicken in Selected Areas of Gazipur District: An Economic Study." Bangladesh Journal of Animal Science 43.1 (2014), pp. 56-61.

25. Chowdhury, M. S. R., and M. M. Chowdhury. "Profitability Analysis of Poultry Farming in Bangladesh: A Case Study on Trishal Upazila in Mymensingh District." Developing Country Studies 5.19 (2015), pp. 107-114.

26. Islam, R., et al. "Analysis of Benefit-Cost (B:C) Ratio of Vanaraja and Local Chicken of Assam under Backyard System of Rearing." Journal of Research in Agriculture and Animal Science 3.7 (2015), pp. 7-10.

27. Khan, M., and M. Afzal. "Profitability Analysis of Different Farm Size of Broiler Poultry in District Dir (Lower)." Sarhad Journal of Agriculture 34.2 (2018), pp. 389-394.

28. Modak, M., et al. "Waste Management Practices and Profitability Analysis of Poultry Farming in Mymensingh District: A Socioeconomic Study." Journal of Bangladesh Agricultural University 17.1 (2019), pp. 50-57.

29. Zar, J. H. Biostatistical Analysis. 5th ed., Pearson, India, 2009.

30. Alem, A. Y., G. T. Yayneshet, and A. H. Aklilu. "Socio-Economic Characteristics of Poultry Production in Lowland and Midland Agro-Ecological Zones of Central Tigray, Ethiopia." International Journal of Livestock Production 5.4 (2013), pp. 71-60, doi: 10.5897/IJLP20130153.

31. Keambou, T. C., et al. "Socio-Economic, Technical Characteristics and Challenges to Local Chicken Production in the Western Highlands of Cameroon." Journal of Livestock Research for Rural Development 28.3 (2016), www.lrrd.org/lrrd28/3/keam28039.html.

32. Baliyan, S. P., and M. B. Masuku. "Socio-Economic Factors as Determinants of Farm Management Skills among Broiler Poultry Producers in Botswana." International Journal of Agricultural Economics 2.2 (2017), pp. 27-34, doi: 10.11648/j.ijae.20170202.11.

33. Ogunyemi, O. I., and P. F. Orowole. "Poultry Farmers Socio-Economic Characteristics and Production Limiting Factors in Southwest Nigeria." Journal of Sustainable Development in Africa 22.1 (2020), pp. 151-165, www.jsd-africa.com.

34. Belal, S. M. S. H. "Prevalence of Coccidiosis in Sonali Birds in Sirajgonj District of Bangladesh." Bangladesh Journal of Veterinary Medicine 15.2 (2017), pp. 107-111.

35. Rouf, M. A., et al. "Pathological Investigation of Infectious Bursal Disease (IBD) in Sonali Chicken at Gaibandha District of Bangladesh." International Journal of Applied Research 3.1 (2017), pp. 13-18, www.intjar.com.

36. Talukdar, M. L., et al. "Prevalence of Infectious Diseases in Sonali Chickens at Bogra Sadar Upazila, Bogra, Bangladesh." Journal of Advanced Veterinary and Animal Research 4.1 (2017), pp. 39-44.

37. Al-Mamun, M., K. M. Islam, and M. M. Rahman. "Occurrence of Poultry Diseases at Kishoregonj District of Bangladesh." MOJ Proteomics & Bioinformatics 8 (2019), pp. 7-12.

38. Akhter, S., M. H. A. Rashid, and H. Uddin. "Comparative Profitability Analysis of Broiler Farming under Aftab Bahumukhi Farm Limited Supervision and Farmers’ Own Management." Progressive Agriculture 20 (2009), pp. 231-236.