Growth performance, meat yield and blood lipid profile of broiler and Sonali chickens

A total of 14,200, day-old broiler chicks were allotted into two batches (B₁=Winter and B₂ = Summer) with 6 replicates each for 30 days, and 16,000, day-old Sonali chicks were allotted into 2 batches with 4 replicates each for 60 days to assess the growth performance, meat yield, and lipid profiles of the blood of chickens. Broiler chickens showed significantly higher body weight, feed intake, and lower FCR and production cost with a tendency to increase mortality compared with Sonali chickens. However, net profit tended to be higher in Sonali chickens compared to broiler chickens. The higher meat yield traits were observed in the broiler chicken compared with the Sonali chicken (p<0.001). Lipid profile did not differ (p>0.05) between chicken types. However, lipid profiles tended to be higher in broiler chicken than in Sonali chicken, except for the low-density lipoprotein (LDL). Growth performance, meat yield traits, and lipid profiles did not differ (p>0.05) between batches, except for the dressing percentage. Dressing (%) was higher in B₁ than in B₂ (p<0.05). No interaction between batch and chicken type was found in the growth performance, meat yield, and blood lipid profile of chickens. Therefore, broiler chickens performed better than Sonali chickens in terms of growth and meat yield traits. Nevertheless, Sonali chickens tended to perform better than broilers in terms of consumer preference, net profit, and lowering total cholesterol and triglyceride. However, more studies are needed to confirm the present findings and make the suggestion to use a suitable chicken type for meat production.