Dietary Inclusion of Water Hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes) Meal: Impacts on Growth Performance and Profitability in Broilers

Abstract

The experiment was conducted during August−October, 2023 at the Poultry Unit, Nagaland University, India to evaluate the effect of dietary supplementation of water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes) meal on growth performance and economic efficiency of broiler chickens. A total of 160 day−old broiler chicks were reared for 42 days under standard management conditions and randomly allocated to four dietary treatments in a completely randomized design, with five replicates of eight birds each. They were maintained as per standard procedures. All birds were fed a starter diet from 0 to 21 days, followed by finisher diets supplemented with water hyacinth meal at 0, 25, 50, and 75 g kg⁻¹ feed from 22 to 42 days. The collected data was subjected to one−way analysis of variance. The results indicated that birds receiving 25 g kg⁻¹ supplementation showed significantly higher final body weight and improved weight gain during the fourth and fifth weeks, while feed conversion ratio remained comparable among treatments. No mortality was observed in this group, whereas minimal mortality occurred in others. Economic parameters, including net return and benefit–cost ratio, were also higher at this inclusion level. In conclusion, supplementation of water hyacinth meal at 25 g kg⁻¹ in the finisher diet improved growth performance and profitability, suggesting its potential as a cost−effective alternative feed resource in broiler production.