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UTILIZATION OF RAW AZOLLA AS A NATURAL FEED ADDITIVE FOR SUSTAINABLE PRODUCTION IN NICOBARI FOWL

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Title UTILIZATION OF RAW AZOLLA AS A NATURAL FEED ADDITIVE FOR SUSTAINABLE PRODUCTION IN NICOBARI FOWL
Not Available
 
Creator T. Sujatha
D. Udhayakumari
A. Kundu
S. Jeyakumar
Jai Sundar
M.S. Kundu
 
Subject Azolla
Feed additive Immunocompetence
Nicobari fowl,
Production
sustainability
 
Description Not Available
Back yard poultry, a common livelihood for poor farmers in Andaman & Nicobar
Islands is facing recession due to prohibitive feed cost. This paper has examined the
prospects of supplementing commercial feed with raw Azolla (Azolla pinnata), a
nutrient-rich water fern, originally imported from mainland India, but adapted well
to the local ecosystem, on the production performance of Nicobari fowl. There has
been no such study earlier. Forty-week old, 72 chicks were divided into two groups
of 36 birds for the study. The control group was given commercial feed (basal diet)
at the rate of 120 g per chick per day, while the experimental group was given raw
Azolla, at the rate of 200 g per chick per day in separate feeder, in addition to 120 g
of basal diet, from 45-60 weeks. The growth, feed conversion efficiency, hen housed
egg production, immunocompetence, and economic impact of supplementation were
assessed. The final body weight of the birds (1560.0±26.8 g), and gain in body weight/
day (2.77±1.78 g) were higher, and the feed conversion ratio (36.10 ± 1.19 g) was
better in Azolla supplemented group than the birds in control group, during the
experimental period (P0.05). The mean hen housed egg production/ week between
45-60 weeks in Azolla fed group (64.76±1.57) was not different (P0.05) from the
control (65.25±1.51), so also weekly egg production in different weeks, e.g. 45-48, 49-
52, 53-56, and 57-60 weeks. There was no difference (P0.05) between the two groups
with respect to immunocompetence, measured in terms of HI titre, MER titre, Foot Index, and total serum protein concentration. There was 30.73% reduction (P0.01)
in feed consumption in Azolla supplemented group that culminated in 0.76 savings
on feed cost per egg per day over the control. The study tends to conclude that Azolla
is a good feed additive for sustainable egg production in Nicobari fowl with no
reconciliation in immunocompetence, but profitable due to savings on feed cost.
The role of Azolla as a feed additive for economising poultry production was not
reported earlier.
Not Available
 
Date 2021-07-28T06:18:39Z
2021-07-28T06:18:39Z
2013-10-01
 
Type Article
 
Identifier Not Available
Not Available
http://krishi.icar.gov.in/jspui/handle/123456789/50509
 
Language English
 
Relation Not Available;
 
Publisher Not Available