Chicken feed formulation at farm level in Ajmer district of Rajasthan
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Date
2015
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
S.K. Rajasthan Agricultural University
Abstract
Poultry farming is a significant sector in Indian economy at large and Ajmer
district in particular. Feeding is the costliest aspect in poultry farming. Feed costs
accounts to over 70% of broiler and layer production costs. This report presents
the result of study titled ‘Poultry Feed Formulation at Farm Level in Ajmer
District of Rajasthan*. The research was guided by three objectives as follows;
to study the chicken management practices in general, to study the feeding
management practices in particular and to formulate balanced least cost chicken
feeds from locally available ingredients for different chicken classes. The study
found that farmers are doing well in chicken management practices. The
research considered 21 management aspects namely; cage size, number of birds
in each cage, space of layer birds in deep litter system, space of broiler birds in
deep litter system, space of birds feeding in a round feeder, space of birds
feeding in a rectangular feeder, space of birds in a round drinker, space of birds
in pipe drinkers, quantity of feed provided to pre starter birds, quantity of feed
provided to starter birds, quantity of feed provided to finisher birds, quantity of
feed provided to chicks, quantity of feed provided to layers, quantity of water
supplied to pre starter birds, quantity of water supplied to starter birds, quantity of
water supplied to finisher birds, quantity of water supplied to chicks, quantity of
water supplied to layers, light management for broiler birds, light management
for chicks and light management for layers. Out of these factors, farmers were
found to be doing in accordance to specified standard management practices in
15 factors, equivalent to 71%. Farmers had a negative gap in only 6 factors,
equivalent to 29%. The practices where they fell short were; cage size - had
smaller cages than standard ones, number of birds in each cage - had more
birds than the recommended number, quantity of feed provided to pre starter
birds - provided less quantity than the recommended amount, quantity of feed
provided to starter birds - provided less quantity than the recommended amount,
149quantity of feed provided to chicks - provided less quantity than the
recommended amount and quantity of feed provided to layer I birds - provided
less quantity than the recommended amount. Concerning the feeding
management practices, the study found that feeding of pre starter, starter,
finisher, chick and growers was totally dependent on readymade complete feeds.
The feeding of laying birds was based on concentrate based complete feeds.
Farmers were not formulating farm based own feeds. The concentrate based
complete feed was found to cost ? 15.16per kilogram. Lastly the study found that
by adopting the proposed farm based own feeds farmers would reduce feed
costs in the following proportions;
> Pre starter feed - 24.40% cost reduction relative to readymade complete
feed
> Starter feed - 26.80% cost reduction relative to readymade complete feed
> Finisher feed - 27.10% cost reduction relative to readymade complete
feed
Chick feed - 16.35% cost reduction relative to readymade complete feed
Grower feed - 30.20% cost reduction relative to readymade complete feed
Layer I feed - 21.30% cost reduction relative to readymade complete feed.
> Layer II feed - 24.50% cost reduction relative to readymade complete
feed.
> Layer III feed - 24.50% cost reduction relative to readymade complete
feed.
Comparing proposed farm based feed with the concentrate based complete feed,
the results were;
> Layer I farm based own feed - 3.90% more costly than concentrate based
complete feed
> Layer II farm based own feed - 0.4% less costly than concentrate based
complete feed
> Layer III farm based own feed - 0.4% less costly than concentrate based
complete feed
In all cases, farmers are advised to adopt the farm based own feeds as they will
be exactly sure of the kind of ingredients included as well as the levels of
inclusion, something which will benefit them in terms of production performance
of the birds.
Description
PhD Thesis
Keywords
Chicken feeds, Farm Level, Poultry farming, Rajasthan, Chicken feed formulation, Ajmer district