Abstract:
An experiment was conducted with 120 seven days old Vencobb commercial broiler chicks and continued up to 42 days of age to determine the feasibility of Azolla (Azolla pinnata) as a feed ingredient in broiler ration. The broilers are randomly allotted to four dietary treatments; T1 (control diet without Azolla meal), T2 (diet with 5% Azolla meal), T3 (diet with 10% Azolla meal) and T4 (diet with 15% Azolla meal) diets replacing sesame meal by Azolla meal. The composition of Azolla meal contained 25.78% crude protein, 15.71% crude fibre, 3.47% ether extract, 15.76% ash and 30.08% nitrogen free extract on the air-dry basis. Live weight, production number and protein efficiency were (P< 0.01) significantly improved at the level off 5% Azolla meal in broiler ration. Feed conversion ratio and energy efficiency were significantly (P< 0.01) improved in diet with 5% Azolla meal and control diet. Total cost Tk/kg broiler was significantly (P<0.05) better in the diet with 5% Azolla meal. Dressing percentage was significantly (P<0.01) increased on diet with 5% Azolla meal. Giblet percentage on dietary treatment T4 significantly (P<0.05) increased than other treatments. It can be conducted that use of Azolla meal up to 5% in the broiler ration found to improve performance and may be used in broiler diet as a safe level. Azolla meal had no deleterious effect on the palatability of broiler diets.
Biplob Basak , Md. Ahsan Habib Pramanik , Muhammad Siddiqur Rahman , Sharif Uddin Tarafdar and Bimol Chandra Roy , 2002. Azolla (Azolla pinnata) as a Feed Ingredient in Broiler Ration. International Journal of Poultry Science, 1: 29-34.
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