Vol. 9, Issue 6, Part D (2024)

Water plays a crucial role in every aspect of bird’s metabolism viz., for nutrient transportation, body temperature regulation, joint lubrication and various intra and extracellular biochemical reactions ^[5]. Water quality significantly affects poultry production, with poor water quality leading to diseases, reduced growth and increased mortality. To address these issues, this study investigated the effects of different drinking water treatment methods on production performance of commercial broiler. Five treatments were employed: Chlorination (T₁), Ozonation (T₂), UV treatment (T₃), RO + Ozone (T4) and RO + UV (T₅). One hundred and eighty broiler chicks were randomly divided into five treatment groups and each received a specific water treatment method. The experimental birds were provided with ad libitum access to pre-starter, starter and finisher diets during 0-7 days, 8-21 days and 22-35 days respectively, according to BIS specifications. The results revealed that the treatment group T5 (RO + UV treated water) had significantly higher cumulative feed intake of 3147.01±24.35 g/bird, T₄ (RO + Ozone treated water) and T₅ (RO + UV treated water) recorded significantly higher cumulative body weight of 1927.33±19.97 g/bird and 1919.67±21.55 g/bird respectively, whereas T₄ (RO + Ozone treated water) had significantly higher cumulative body weight gain of 1881.03±19.93 g/bird and the treatment group T₄ (RO + Ozone treated water) water had significantly better cumulative feed conversion ratio of 1.64. Hence, the different drinking water treatment methods had significant effect on production performance of broiler chicken.