Azolla pinnata, a potential protein ingredient for turkey production

Abstract

Background and Aim: The poultry industry is one of the most profitable businesses of agriculture in Uganda as it provides nutritious meat and eggs for human consumption within the shortest possible time. The most important constraint to poultry production is the inadequate feed resources and high costs of feeds yet the industry only thrives with adequate and quality feed resource. Hence, the study was carried out in Bugiri district located in Eastern Uganda and focused on the nutritive content of Azolla pinnata and compared the growth performance of turkeys fed on Azolla pinnata and silver fish meal protein Materials and Methods: Harvested Azolla pinnatawas washed thoroughly well in clean water, weighed and dried for 3 days. Dried Azolla pinnata was then collected, packed in air tight bags and stored for chemical analysis. A total of 10, 8-week-old turkey poults were divided into two treatment groups (5 poults each group). The poults were weighed individually, and distributed randomly on uniform body weight basis in the treatment groups. The birds were housed; water was offered ad libitum. The birds of the control group (T1) were fed a basal diet (22% CP and 3000 Kcal ME/kg), while the other group (T2) were fed on basal diet replaced by dry Azollapinnata powder on DM basis. Results: The dry matter (DM) content of sun dried Azollapinnatameal was 91.64 per cent. It contained 8.36% total moisture, 29.51% protein and 15.49% crude fat. Conclusion: The proximate analysis indicated that the sun dried Azolla pinnata is a good source of crude protein and could be used as a potential alternative protein source in turkey diets. The study indicated that Azolla pinnata could be safely included at 7.75% replacing fish meal without any adverse effect.