Air-dried Azolla (Azolla pinnata) meal as a feed supplement for broilers

Poultry farming is one of the most profitable businesses of agriculture that provides nutritious meat and eggs for human consumption within the shortest possible time. A large number of farms have been established in different parts of the country creating employment opportunities for the people but is facing problems because of the high price and economic availability of feed ingredients for the growth of commercial poultry. Feeds of plant origin, like green plants, are considered excellent sources of protein and fat. Recently, aquatic plants have gained much interest in food and biomedical research due to their broad range of uses such as human food, animal feed, and bio-fertilizers. Among these aquatic plants, the floating fern Azolla (Azolla pinnata) has been widely used as an alternative feed source for poultry. Hence, this study was conducted to determine the effect of different levels of air-dried Azolla (Azolla pinnata) meal as a feed supplement for broilers. Results of the study disclosed that the feed conversion efficiency of birds was not significantly influenced by the different levels of air-dried Azolla meal as a feed supplement. However, a significant result was noted on the final weight, gain weight of birds, feed consumption, feed conversion ratio, dressing percentage, liver weight, gizzard, profit above, medicine, and stock cost of birds.