Azolla cultivation to produce sustainable feed ingredient: Chemical composition and its impact on performance of broiler chickens

Present study was conducted in two phases. In phase 1, fresh azolla was cultivated, harvested and analysed for nutrient composition, condensed tannins (CT) and obtained dried azolla meal (DAM) for incorporation in broiler ration. In phase 2, feeding trial was conducted to investigate the effect of DAM supplementation as alternative feed ingredient in broiler ration. Day-old broiler chicks (180) were purchased, weighed individually and allocated into six treatments(T₀, T₁, T₂, T₃, T₄ and T₅) groups supplemented with DAM @ 0.0, 1.5, 2.5, 3.5, 4.5 and 5.5 percent, respectively. Each group has 3 replicates and 10 chicks per deep litter pen. Experimental birds were fed their respective diets for 35 days. The DAM contains 86.94, 22.98, 3.13, 13.64, 13.06, 40.37, 1.23, 0.79 and 0.09 percent of organic matter (OM), crude protein (CP), ether extract (EE), crude fibre (CF), total ash, nitrogen free extract (NFE), calcium (Ca), phosphorus (P) and condensed tannins (CT), respectively. The weight gain and feed conversion ratio (FCR) at weekly intervals did not differ significantly (P>0.05) irrespective of groups except feed intake. It was concluded that DAM incorporation up to 5.5% of diet is a good source of nutrients and as an alternative sustainable feed ingredient for broilers without affecting performance.

HIGHLIGHTS

Azolla can be used as alternative feed resources for poultry.

Feeding of dried azolla meal as unconventional feed resource does not hamper any growth performance of broiler.