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Performance of broilers fed on different levels of Azolla meal
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2009
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Animal PhysiologyNutritionAnimal PerformanceBody CompositionConversion RatioEngineeringFood CompositionAnimal NutritionAnimal ScienceBroiler BirdsAgricultural EconomicsFeed EvaluationEducationFeed AdditivePoultry FarmingDifferent LevelsDeep Litter SystemPoultry Science
An experiment was conducted on 225-day-old Vencobb broiler chicks reared on deep litter system of housing to study the production performance of broilers fed on different levels of Azolla for six weeks. The birds were randomly divided into three treatment groups of 75 chicks each viz., control A, B and C having three replicates. The control group was fed diet without Azolla and group B and C were fed diet with SBM replacement with Azolla meal @ 2.5% and 5%, respectively. There were no significant differences noted between the control and treated groups with regards to the body weights and weekly weight gain. However, the body weights at 6th week for treatment group were numerically higher than the control (A 1757.10, B 1845.80 and C 1892.40 g). There were non-significant differences in weekly feed consumption, and weekly feed conversion ratio at 6th week of age. However, the feed consumption for treated groups was slightly higher than control (A 983.79, B 1045.00 and C 1009.00 g) and the feed conversion ratios of treated groups were better as compared to control (A 1.95, B 1.93 and C 1.91). The economics of broiler production revealed the net profit per bird realized after the sale of birds for A, B and C treatment group were Rs. 10.84, 15.64 and 19.22, respectively. The study revealed that, replacement of SBM by Azolla meal up to 5% in the diet of broiler birds had no deleterious effect on palatability, and efficiency of feed utilization at every stage of life in the broiler birds. The carcass yield obtained from different groups A, B and C were 75.73, 75.89 and 74.95%, respectively, highest abdominal fat percent was obtained for group C 2.75% followed by group B and A as 2.47 and 2.24%, respectively. The abdominal fat pad thickness for different treatments were recorded as 0.63, 0.71 and 0.83 cm for A, B and C, respectively. Hence it maybe concluded that water fern Azolla could replace SBM in broiler ration up to 5% level without any adverse effect on carcass quality of broiler birds.