author(s)
TK Patbandha, DD Garg, S Marandi, DG Vaghamashi, SS Patil and HH Savsani

abstract
The present study investigated the effect of day old chick weight, length, ratio of weight to length square (body mass index), ratio of weight to length and shank length on growth performance of coloured broiler chicken (n=76) at Junagadh Agricultural University, Junagadh (Gujarat) from June to August, 2017. Chicks were classified into 3 groups (low, medium and high) based on their initial value of the parameters studied. Chicks with high initial body weight gained significantly more weight (19.65g, P£0.05) up to day 15 than those with low initial weight. However, body weight was similar on later age among the groups. Chicks with high initial body length gained significantly higher live weight up to market age (126.31-139.42g) as compared to low to medium length groups (P£0.05). However, day old chicks with medium weight and length had higher live weight (9.74 and 8.39g) on day 8 than the low weight and length group, respectively (P£0.05). Chicken growth was not affected by body mass index and shank length. Moreover, day old chicks having medium to higher ratio of weight to length had significantly more live weight on day 8 (7.7-8.0g, P£0.05) than the low groups. Taken together, it may be concluded that day old chick length markedly affected growth performance in coloured broiler chicken.