Fodder Yield and Quality of Azolla pinnata Cultivated under the Different Water Sources.

Abstract

Background: Azolla is a nature’s gift and regenerates within 24 hours and has tremendous uses like supplementary feed to livestock. It is one of the most nutritive animal feeds and also can be used by livestock farming communities. Azolla has several times higher levels of crude protein than other forage crops and is also rich in minerals. The aim of the current study is to study growth in various water sources and their quality as supplementary feed to livestock. Methods: A study was conducted in a randomized block design (RBD) with five different treatments and replicated five times to minimize the error. The study was carried out to explore the yield and nutritive value of Azolla pinnata cultivated under different water sources like well water, river water, bore well water, sewage water and drainage water. The duration of the study was three years from Jan 2019 to March 2022. The silpauline plastic bed having dimensions 12 × 4 ft size was used. Every alternate day, the fresh Azolla was harvested and recorded the weight. Result: The pooled data for three years (2019 to 2022) showed a higher yield of 0.31 kg/day of fresh Azolla pinnata in Mula Mutha river water (T2) and 0.30 kg in well water (T1) and sewage water (T4) crude protein content was highest (28.07 %) in sewage water (T4).