Effect of Replacement of Mustard Oil Cake with Azolla (Azolla pinnata) Meal on Growth Performance of Broilers and Economics of Feeding Under Temperate Conditions

Chicks (144) were reared together until 7 days of age. On 8^th day, the chicks were weighed individually and distributed randomly into three groups of four replicates with twelve chicks each. A control diet (T₁) containing 10% mustard oil cake and two experimental diets in which mustard oil cake was partially (50%; T₂) or totally replaced (T₃) by dried Azolla (Azolla pinnata) were prepared. The diets contained 23.3, 22.7 and 22.1% crude protein, respectively. An average body weight of 1628.83±25.32, 1594.25±20.12 and 1439.29±22.67 g was found in groups T₁, T₂ and T₃ respectively at the end of 6^th week. The difference in cost of feeding/kg weight gain in T₂ and T₃ was 1.3 and-1.7, respectively. There was no adverse effect on the performance of broiler chicken when 50% of mustard oil cake was replaced with dried Azolla. However, the performance of broiler chicken decreased considerably when 100% of mustard oil cake was replaced with dried Azolla. It was concluded that Azolla could replace 50% of mustard oil cake in broiler ration without affecting the performance of birds.