Chemical composition of Azolla (Azolla pinnata) and their exploring effects on the production performance of broilers

Abstract

An experiment was conducted at Poultry unit, Dept. of Animal Husbandry and Dairy Science, Dr. B.S. Konkan Krishi Vidyapeeth Dapoli, Maharashtra to assess the chemical composition of Azolla pinnata and their effect on the performance of broilers. A total 120 chicks (144) were reared together until 9 days of age in brooding stage. On 10th day, the chicks were weighed individually and distributed randomly into four dietary groups with five replications and each replication have six chicks. A control diet (T0) containing 0.0 % Azolla and three experimental diets in which Azolla was partially (5%; T1), (10%; T2) and T3 replaced (15%) by Azolla (Azolla pinnata) were prepared. An average body weight of 2344.20, 2507.37, 2285.50 and 2244.03 g was found in groups T0, T1, T2 and T3 respectively at the end of 6th week. The feed conversion ratio significantly superior found T1 (1.70) followed by T0 (1.81), T2 (1.82) and T3 (1.84), respectively. Supplementation of Azolla at the rate of 5% for 42 days showed the significant increase (P