Acceptability, marketability and economics of organically Grown broiler fed with azolla

To improve commercial broiler production, basal diets have been supplemented with antibiotics for increased growth rate, disease prevention and control of pathogens but are expensive thus always limits the growth of the industry and results to adverse effects in animals and humans. Consequently, the use of organic supplements as alternative such as azolla are generally believed to be cheaper, safer, healthier, less subject to hazards and thus improve birds’ physiological digestion. The study aims to determine how azolla in the ration affects the growth, blood lipid profile, meat cholesterol, organoleptic properties, economics and marketability of raising organically grown broilers fed with azolla. All data was analyzed using ANOVA following Completely Randomized Design and significant differences between treatment means was further analyzed using Tukey’s Test while Friedman’s Test for organoleptic evaluation. Results revealed that feeding azolla for organically grown broilers significantly (p<0.05) improved the feed conversion ratio, lowers the blood and meat cholesterol, enhanced the meat color, flavour, tenderness and juiciness, and increases the net income, income per bird and return on investment. However, feeding azolla have comparable (p>0.05) effects on the body weight, HDL, LDL and triglycerides content, odor, texture and general acceptability of the meat. Findings also show that all panellists are willing to pay higher price from the existing for organically grown broiler chicken with proven lower cholesterol level and enhanced meat quality. Moreover, 70% of the panellists indicated that social media is the best mode of information dissemination for the consuming public to be aware of the natural production and nutritional benefits of growing broilers fed with azolla. In general, results suggests that feeding 50% azolla has significant (p<0.05) and potential effects as alternative protein source for broiler raisers to reduced feed cost, lower blood and meat cholesterol, enhanced meat quality and consequently maximized profit margin.