Effects of supplementing water spinach (Ipomoea aquatica) to basal diet on growth performance and nutrients digestibility of broiler chickens

Abstract

This experiment was conducted to study the effects of supplementing green feed-water spinach (Ipomoea aquatica) to basal diet on growth performance and nutrient digestibility of broiler chickens. A total of 120 male Cobb 500 broiler chickens aged 21 days were randomly allocated to three dietary treatments by using a randomized complete block design (RCBD). Each treatment consisted of five replicates and eight birds per replicate. From 22-49 days, the grower chickens were exposed to the three different experimental diets: diet 1-basal diet containing 0.4 % vitamin-mineral premix (control), diet 2basal diet containing 0.2 % vitamin-mineral premix + 34.5 g fresh water spinach (Ipomoea aquatica), and diet 3-basal diet without vitamin-mineral premix + 69 g fresh water spinach. Growth performances were measured and calculated on weekly basis. On day 49, three birds of each treatment group with almost similar body weight were selected and placed in individual cages. Feed intake was recorded for each bird every day and total faeces were collected on three consecutive days. In order to calculate the digestibility value of experimental diets, the dry matter (DM) and crude protein (CP) content of feed and faeces were determined. There were no significant effects on growth performances through feed consumption, body weight, weight gain and feed conversion ratio (FCR) of broiler chickens. The digestibility of feed DM and feed CP was not significantly different (P>0.05) among the treatments. Further, diets supplemented with water spinach had no adverse effect on growth performance and nutrients digestibility of broiler chickens. It can be concluded that the more expensive vitamin-mineral component of the ration can be replaced by the lower cost and widely available water spinach.