Impact of Azolla fed poultry excreta on water qualities and performance of common carp

Abstract

An attempt was made to study the impact of excreta from poultry birds fed with different levels of Azolla on water quality and performance of common carp. Day old broiler chicks were reared and brooded for 14 days on commercial pre-starter diet and from 15th day broilers were supplemented with 2 and 4% Azolla in their basal feed. Excreta from these birds were collected, sun dried and mixed with basal diet of fishes in ratio of 50:50 (Basal diet: excreta). 60 fingerlings of common carp were procured from Government fish hatchery, Jammu, acclimatized for one month with basal feed and regular water exchange. Experimental water in tubs of 100 L capacity was treated in duplicates along with control for a period of 28 days. There were no mortality and adverse impact was observed in behaviour of experimental fish. No significant differences were observed in growth parameters of fishes which may be attributed to short duration of experiment. All the water quality parameters were found to be in permissible limits indicating that Azolla fed poultry excreta did not have any adverse impact on water quality and performance of fish. Based on the observation it is revealed that Azolla may be used as a supplementary feed ingredient under poultry fish integration system.