Evaluation of Dietary Supplementation of Water Hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes) Meal on Cell-Mediated Immunity and Carcass Traits in Broiler Chickens

Abstract

The poultry industry has a great deal of potential to promote quick economic growth if it expands its operations and adopts better production techniques. The study aims to determine whether adding water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes) meal to broiler chickens' diets affects their carcass features and cell-mediated immunity, as well as whether it can be used as a substitute feed source. Using a completely randomised design, 160-day-old broiler chicks were split into four treatment groups, each with five replicates. A basal diet (T1, control) and a basal diet supplemented with water hyacinth meal at 25 g/kg (T2), 50 g/kg (T3), and 75 g/kg feed (T4) comprised the dietary treatments. The feeding experiment ran for 42 days. At the end of the experiment, carcass characteristics and immune organ indices were evaluated. For each bird in T1, T2, T3, and T4, the recorded carcass weight was 1902.60 g, 1896.40 g, 1766.80 g, and 1461.00 g. The dressing percentage was 74.47%, 76.25%, 73.18%, and 75.32%, with birds fed 25 g/kg water hyacinth meal showing the highest value. For T1, T2, T3, and T4, the average liver weights were 47.43 g, 54.93 g, 54.37 g, and 53.80 g, and the average gizzard weights were 30.28 g, 32.34 g, 28.43 g, and 29.74 g, respectively. Across treatments, heart weights varied from 10.57 g to 11.13 g. In birds fed 75 g/kg water hyacinth meal, bursal weight rose from 1.41 g in the control group to 2.72 g, with corresponding bursal index values of 0.06% to 0.11%, suggesting better development of immune organs. Nonetheless, there was little difference between treatments in spleen weight (2.77–3.11 g) and spleen index (0.11–0.13%). The findings show that while moderate inclusion enhanced dressing percentage and immune response, dietary addition of water hyacinth meal had no negative impact on carcass characteristics. The results suggest that water hyacinth meal may be added to broiler diets at a rate of 25 g/kg in order to promote sustainable poultry production.