A total of 168 seven days-old Arbor Acres chicks were reared in late-autumn on 4 types of litters; sawdust, rice husk, sugarcane bagasse or wheat straw up to 49 days of age to compare the growth performance, evaluate the manureal value and Coccidial oocyst population in used litter. Sadust, rice husk, sugarcane bagasse and wheat straw did not differ statistically for live weight, feed consumption, feed conversion ratio and survivability (p>0.05). However, live weight and survivability tended to increase on sawdust. The highest moisture content of used litter was found in sugarcane bagasse followed by sawdust, rice husk and wheat straw (p<0.05). Rice husk contained the highest amount of of nitrogen, phosphurus and potassium followed by sawdust, sugarcane bagasse and wheat straw (p<0.01). Oocyst content of all treatment groups increased suddenly up to 5 weeks of age and thereafter suddenly declined up to 7 weeks of age. Litter materials did not differ at 35 and 42 days of age for oocyst content, but significantly differed at 49 days of age (p<0.01). So, the above findings reveal that sawdust may be suitable litter followed by rice husk, sugarcane bagasse and wheat straw in late-autumn in Bangladesh in respect of broiler growth performance.

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Random amplified polymorphism DNA (RAPD) technique was applied to detect genetic similarity between seven local  chicken strains selected for eggs and meat production in Bangladesh. Conservation and improvement strategies     ought to be based on proper genetic characterization in association with phenotypic characterization. White Leghorn, White Rock, Rhode Island Red, and Barred Plymouth Rock fall under recognized strain and Hilly, Deshi and Necked Neck fall under native bird group. Based on four oligonucleotide primers, the genetic similarity between the eggproducing strains (White Leghorn; White Rock; Rhode Island Red and Barred Plymouth Rock) was between 81.3 to 89.3 %. While the genetic similarity of three native chicken strains selected for meat production (Hilly, Deshi and Necked Neck) was 69.0 to 78.7 % similar based on the RAPD Marker. So, RAPD markers appeared to be effective in detecting similarity between chicken strains and they provide a potential tool for studying the inter-strain genetic similarity.   DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/jbau.v9i2.10989   J. Bangladesh Agril. Univ. 9(2): 217–220, 2011

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The study was conducted at Bangladesh Livestock Research Institute to evaluate the productive and reproductive performances of 4 pure lines conserving for the production of next generation. A total of 2000 pedigree hatched day-old chicks were wing banded and reared up to 40 weeks of age. Data were kept on daily feed intake (g/bird/day), weekly body weight (g), age at sexual maturity (days), daily egg production (%) and egg weight (g). There were highly significant differences (p<0.01) in body weight at 38 weeks, age at sexual maturity, egg production up to 40 weeks and egg weight at 38 weeks of age among the treatment groups. There were no significant differences (P>0.05) in fertility, hatchability, dead in germ, sound chick and dead in shell percentage among the treatment except cull chicks where L1 showed the highest percent of cull chicks.  Egg production at 23-28 and 35-40 weeks of age differ significantly (p<0.01) except at 29-34 weeks of age (p>0.05). Significant variations for FCR observed at 35-40 weeks of age while it was non-significant (p>0.05) at 23-28 and 29-34 weeks of age. It is revealed that line-2 is superior in terms of egg production, age at sexual maturity and egg mass where line-1 was better in terms of FCR value. Considering the results it may be concluded that there are significant variations exists regarding egg production performances among the experimental pure lines, thus could be utilized successfully for the production of high yielding strains through proper breeding programme. Bangladesh J. of Livestock Res. 20(1-2): 26-32, Jan-Dec 2013