Effect of dietary supplementation of Azadirachta indica leaf meal on egg-nutrient profile and production economics of vanaraja laying hens

Abstract

An experiment was conducted to study the effect of dietary supplementation of Azadirachta indica leaf meal (NLM) on egg-nutrient profile and production economics of Vanaraja laying hens for a period of 12 weeks. One hundred twenty, Vanaraja laying hens of 24 weeks of age were selected at random and divided into four groups of 30 each with three replicates of 10 in each group in a complete randomized design. Four experimental diets were fed to birds in which T1 (control- antibiotic powder – oxytetracycline @ 50g/ quintal) and in rest of the 3 treatment groups T2, T3 and T4, the birds were fed with NLM at levels of 0.25, 0.5 and 1.0 per cent, respectively. The nutrient composition of egg did not show any significant difference among the different treatment groups. Also, amino acid profile did not differ significantly among the treatment groups. In production economics, the cost of feed/egg produced did not vary significantly (P>0.05) between the different dietary groups Thus, from the present findings NLM up to 1% level in the diet of Vanaraja laying hens is beneficial in terms of egg quality characteristics and production performance when compared to antibiotic powder supplementation.