The Government of India has envisaged a journey of doubling farmers’ income till 2022–2023 and envisioned many policy reforms for the same. Farmers in India rely on major farm produce and do not utilize the by-products or wastes emerging from their farms for monetary benefits. Sustainable utilization of agricultural, household and livestock waste have the potential in augmenting farmers’ income significantly which was established by conducting case studies in Ludhiana District of Punjab on three dairy farmers, each pursuing vermicomposting, biogas production and traditional composting. Comparative economic analysis in terms of various costs were worked out for vermicomposting, composting and biogas production. On analysis, it was found that the highest net returns per metric tonne of dung were obtained from vermicomposting (INR 2224.72, USD 29.42), followed by biogas production (INR 536.66, USD 7.10) and composting (INR 45.59, USD 0.60). Net returns from the dung obtained from one cattle equivalent were highest from vermicomposting (INR 11012.34, USD 145.64), followed by biogas production (INR 2656.74, USD 35.14) and composting (INR 225.68, USD 2.98). High profitability was accorded to vermicomposting because it is sold at remunerative prices. The study emphasizes the utilization of wastes through vermicomposting clubbed with biogas production for augmenting farmers’ income.

Aseel, a popular breed of native chicken, characterized by its pugnacity, fighting strength and royal gait is being used to create crosses for domestic chicken production. However, information on its growth models is scanty. An experiment was conducted to evaluate different non-linear models and to find out best fitting model in Aseel, being maintained at Central Avian Research Institute, Izatnagar, Bareilly. Data on body weights from 12-weeks of age to 20-weeks of age at biweekly intervals were recorded on a random bred single-hatched flock. Owing to the non-linear characteristic of growth, three non-linear models namely, Gompertz, Bertalanffy and Logistic models were evaluated. Goodness of fit for all the models were checked using coefficient of determination (R2), adjusted coefficient of determination (Adj-R2), mean square error (MSE), mean absolute error (MAE) and Akaike information criterion (AIC). The Bertalanffy model most accurately characterized the growth trend in males, females and pooled sex data. The study revealed that this model may be used to ascertain the average body weights in Aseel chicken under random mating. The investigation has generated baseline data on growth modelling of random bred groups and may be used in similar investigations on other native chicken breeds.