Vol. 10, Special Issue 8 (2021)

Author(s):
Vivek Subramanian

Abstract:
The present study was conducted to see the effect of Azolla feeding on body weight gain in improved native chicken breeds under intensive system of rearing. The study was conducted on 36 chicks, which were randomly divided into four treatment groups each with 3 replicates of 9 birds. The first treatment (T₁) served as a control in which basal diets was offered without Azolla supplementation while in T₂, T₃, and T₄ groups, basal diet was replaced with Azolla meal at 5%, 10%, and 15% levels, respectively. A feeding trial was conducted up to 12 weeks. Throughout the experiment, there is no significant body weight gain between Azolla fed groups and control. Cost benefit analysis on basis of net return/bird or net return/kg live weight, each of Azolla fed groups showed higher economic efficiency than the control. It was concluded that Azolla could be included in the native chicken ration up to 15% level. It leads to substantial economization of feed cost of production under intensive system of rearing.