The nutritive value of azolla (Azolla pinnata) meal in diets for growing pullets and subsequent effect on laying performance.

摘要

The effect of incorporating graded levels of azolla meal (AZM) in diets of growing pullets was investigated. Particular reference was given to growth, haematology and subsequent laying performance. In a completely randomized design, feeding trials lasted 10 weeks and involved 120 Nera brown pullets aged 8 weeks. Birds were reared to 18 weeks of age on diets containing 0, 5, 10 and 15% AZM. From 19-30 weeks of age, all groups were switched to a common maize-soyabean-based layer mash with 17.5% CP and 2522 kcal/kg ME. The apparent differences in weight gain (WG), feed intake (FI), feed conversion ratio (FCR), packed cell volume (PCV), red blood cell (RBC), haemoglobin (Hb) and white blood cell (WBC) were insignificant. At the onset of lay, age at first lay was similar across the treatments. Hen-day production to 30 weeks and egg quality were similar across the treatments except for yolk weight, which was significantly lower for all birds on AZM diets. These results indicated a benefit from AZM at low level of supplementation, and up to 15% AZM could be incorporated in diets of growing pullets without jeopardizing health and subsequent laying performance.