Protein substitution with Azolla on the performance of commercial broiler chicken

The present study was conducted to evaluate the effect of Azolla supplementation on growth and carcass traits of broiler chicken. One hundred eighty day-old broiler chicks were randomly distributed in six dietary treatments viz. C₁-Basal diet, C₂-Basal diet + Enzyme, T₁-Basal diet + 5% dietary protein from Azolla, T₂-Basal diet + 5% dietary protein from Azolla + Enzyme, T₃-Basal diet+ 10% dietary protein from Azolla and T₄-Basal diet + 10% dietary protein from Azolla + Enzyme. The body weight gain, cumulative feed consumption, feed conversion ratio (FCR), protein efficiency ratio (PER) and energy efficiency ratio (EER) of the broiler birds in the treated groups did not differ significantly (P>0.05). No significant (P>0.05) difference was found in carcass characters of broiler birds in different treated groups. The haematological values and serum biochemical parameters like glucose, total protein, albumin, globulin, urea, creatinine, AST, ALT, calcium and phosphorus varied insignificantly (P>0.05) between the treatments. Histological picture of liver revealed absence of any adverse effect of feeding Azolla. The net return and other calculated economics parameters were found to be better in the T₁ group than that of other treated groups. It was concluded that supplementation of 5% dietary protein from Azolla in an isonitrogenous and isocaloric diet had no deleterious effect and substantially economised the cost of broiler production.