Mohammad Yazarloo; Seyed Davood Sharifi; Farid Shariatmadari; Abdolreza Salehi
Volume 15, Issue 1 , July 2014, , Pages 1-10
Abstract
In order to determine the optimal levels of energy and protein in grower diet of Japanese quail, 360 dayold Japanese quails were used in a 3×3 factorial arrangement of dietary treatments that comprised threelevels of metabolisable energy (2750, 2850, and 2950 Kcal/kg) and three levels of crude ...
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In order to determine the optimal levels of energy and protein in grower diet of Japanese quail, 360 dayold Japanese quails were used in a 3×3 factorial arrangement of dietary treatments that comprised threelevels of metabolisable energy (2750, 2850, and 2950 Kcal/kg) and three levels of crude protein (24, 26and 28 percent) with four replicates per treatment in a completely randomized design. Feed intake andbody weight were measured weekly and feed conversion ratio was calculated. At 35 d of age, four birds(from both sexes) from each replicate were randomly selected and killed following blood sampling toevaluate carcass traits. The blood samples were assayed for the sera concentrations of growth hormone.Results indicated that birds fed on diets containing 2850 kcal/kg metabolisable energy and 26 percentprotein had higher daily weight gain and better feed conversion ratio and carcass yield (P<0.05). The seraconcentration of growth hormone was higher in birds fed on diet containing 2750 kcal/kg metabolisableenergy (P<0.05). This study indicated that Japanese quails can grow faster and more efficiently on dietcontaining 2850 kcal/kg metabolisable energy and 26 percent protein. Therefore, the diet containing 2850kcal/kg metabolisable energy and 26 percent protein could be recommended as dietary metabolisableenergy and protein requirements for growing Japanese quails.