Effect of fresh azolla (Azolla pinnata) feed replacement on growth performance, carcass quality, and oxidative stress in Thai native crossbred chicken

Azolla (Azolla pinnata), an aquatic fern, has high amounts of crude protein and essential amino acids and thus could be an economical and plentiful alternative feed source for poultry. In this study we investigated how partial replacement of pelleted concentrate diet with fresh azolla affected growth performance, carcass quality, and oxidative stress in Thai native crossbred chicken. A total of 600 male, six week-old native crossbred chickens (Pradu Hang dum) were randomly assigned to six experimental groups that were for fed for four weeks with 100% commercial pelleted diet (control) or a diet having partial replacement of the control diet with 5%, 10%, 15%, 20%, or 25% fresh azolla (FA). The feed cost per weight gain was significantly decreased in chickens fed FA (p<0.05). No significant differences among the groups were seen in live body weight, defeather weight, carcass percentage and some internal organs, although the 15% and 20% FA groups had significantly lower (p<0.05) wing weight. Breast meat lightness and yellowness were significantly higher (p<0.05) for the 15% FA group, and the 25% FA group had significantly lower (p<0.05) meat redness relative to the other groups. The shear force of the breast meat was significantly lower (p<0.05) for the 10%, 15%, and 20% FA groups compared to the other groups. For oxidative stress parameters, the glutathione level (GSH) was similar among all the groups. The groups fed fresh azolla all had significantly lower (p<0.05) malondialdehyde (MDA) concentrations relative to the control group, although the MDA level in stored meat was similar among all the groups. Taken together, these results suggest that fresh azolla can be used as an alternative feed source to lower production costs for Thai native crossbred chicken