Economic analysis of using duckweed as feed supplement in the commercial rations of native chickens

Abstract

Native chickens is considered to be a very important species of poultry in determining the profitability of keeping native chickens in Indonesia in agribusiness. The main objective of this study was to study the economic analysis of using duckweed as a feed supplement in the rations of native chickens. 100 native chickens used in this study and they were kept in a litter system confinement lined with rice chaff using wire mesh as their walls. The study was used a randomized complete block design with five treatments and four replicates. The following treatments were used: T0 as control = commercial feed without duckweed; T1 = T0 + 10% duckweed; T2 = T0 + 20% duckweed; T3 = T0 + 30% duckweed; and T4 = T0 + 40% duckweed. The benefit-cost (B/C) ratio of native chickens recorded for T0, T1,T2, T3, T4 were 0.91, 1.02, 1.24, 1.47, and 1.46, respectively. The higher B/C ratio in case of native chickens in our study indicated that native chickens rearing was much more profitable when using duckweed as the feed supplement in their rations between 10 - 40%.