Effect of feeding azolla (Azolla pinnata) meal on the performance, nutrient utilization and carcass characteristics of Chabro chicken Mishra Deepesh Bharat, Roy Debashis*, Kumar Vinod, Bhattacharyya Amitav1, Kumar Muneendra, Kushwaha Raju, Vaswani Shalini Animal Nutrition Department, College of Veterinary Science and Animal Husbandry, DUVASU, Mathura-281001, India 1Department of Poultry Science, College of Veterinary Science and Animal Husbandry, DUVASU, Mathura-281001, India *Corresponding Author: Email: debashis2k4@gmail.com
Online published on 19 July, 2017. Abstract Present study was conducted to assess the effect of feeding azolla meal on growth performance, nutrient utilization and carcass characteristics of Chabro chicken in 8 week feeding trial. 160 Chabro chicks (1 week old) were randomly divided into four groups with four replicates and ten birds each. Control group (T1) was fed on basal diet without azolla supplementation and three experimental diets were prepared by replacing basal diet with azolla meal at 5% (T2), 7.5% (T3) and 10% (T4) levels. The diets were offered randomly to all the four groups (T1, T2, T3 & T4) for a period of 8 weeks. Live weight gain was significantly improved (P<0.05) in T2 and T3 groups. Feed conversion ratio (FCR) and protein retentions were improved significantly (P<0.05) in chickens kept on T2 and T3. Supplementation of 5% azolla meal significantly increased relative weight of breast compared to control. Retentions of crude protein and Ca were significantly (P<0.05) higher in groups fed azolla meal. Cost of feed per kg live bird was significantly (P<0.05) lower in all the groups fed azolla meal compared to control group. It was concluded that dietary inclusion of azolla meal upto 7.5% was beneficial in terms of improved performance and nutrient utilization in Chabro chicken without any deleterious effect on carcass quality with reduced feed cost. Top Keywords Azolla pinnata, carcass quality, Chabro chicken, performance, nutrient utilization. Top |