RAIN HARVESTED WATER IS THE BEST ALTERNATE OF GROUND WATER FOR BROILER PRODUCTION

Abstract

This study was conducted at the University of Agriculture Peshawar, Pakistan during spring 2024, using 120-day old commercial broiler chicks. The chicks on the arrival were randomly divided into four groups of 30 chicks each, replicated three times with ten birds per replicate. Keeping feed and other parameters similar, chicks in the experimental groups were reared on four different water sources i.e., irrigation water, harvested rain water, tape water used for drinking on campus and spring water, to observe the effect of different water sources on the performance of broilers, weekly and overall feed intake, body weight gain, FCR and carcass dressing percentage, intestinal villi length and crypt depth. Required data was collected and analyzed for the results using the relevant tools. Data were analyzed through (CRD). ANOVA was used to find the mean and SE using Statistical software (8.1). P-value equal to 0.05 or <0.05 were considered significant. The means were separated by LSD (least significant difference). There was significant (P<0.05) decrease in feed intake of the birds provided with the rain water (3075.0±3.00 g) in comparison with other groups while the body weight gain was maximum (1811.00±2.08) in broilers offered with rain water. Provision of rain harvested water also improved significantly (P<0.05) the weekly and overall FCR (1.69d±0.001), dressing percentage (70.75a±0.14), intestinal villi height (0.896a±0.04), decreased (0.249d±0.01) villus crypt depth and overall economics of broiler production. This study revealed that provision of rain harvested water for drinking to broilers improved growth performance, FCR, dressing percentage, gut health and ultimately the economics of broilers production.