Effect of Dietary Inclusion of Azolla (Azolla pinnata) in Raw and Meal Forms on the Production Performance, Immunocompetence, Development of Digestive Organs and Carcass Quality Traits of Coloured Chicken

One hundred and twenty day old straight run coloured chicken (Chabro) were distributed into four treatments: T1-basal diet, T2–5% of basal diet replaced with Azolla meal on dry matter basis, T3-Basal diet+Raw azolla after 4 weeks, T4-T2+Raw azolla after 4 weeks. Average weekly weight gain of T1, T2 and T3 were significantly higher (P<0.01) than T4 birds at 2^nd week. There was no significant difference in the weekly FCR among the treatment groups during the experiment. Humoral immune response to 1% SRBC (log₂ titre) and cell mediated immune response to PHA-P was comparatively better in T2 group. Per cent gizzard weight was significantly higher (P<0.05) in T2 than other groups. There was no significant difference among the treatment groups in the carcass quality traits. It may be concluded that azolla meal can replace poultry feed up to 5% level with higher humoral and cell mediated immune responses.