Document Type : Research Paper

Abstract

This study was conducted to investigate the effect of dietary supplemented with zinc oxide (0, 40, 80, 120 and 160 mg /kg of diet) and vitamin E (Vit E; α-tocopherol acetate; 0 and 40 IU/kg of diet) on fertility and hatchability of Japanese quails, and growth performance and immune response of their progenies. A total of 960 Japanese quails (Coturnix coturnix japonica) 70 d of age were housed in cages and randomly allocated to 10 treatments with 4 replicates of 24 birds in each (sixteen females and eight males). Dietary supplemented zinc and Vit E significantly increased hatchability (P≤0.05). There was a significant effect of Vit E on breeder quails fertility, while zinc supplementation was reduced embryonic mortality at the second stage (10-16 day) (P≤0.05). Supplemental zinc significantly improved feed conversion ratio of offspring in the first three weeks of age, while added Vit E improved feed conversion ratio only in the first week of offspring growth (P≤0.05). Dietary supplementation of Japanese quail’s ration with zinc and Vit E increased immune response of offspring, and enriched Zn content of tibia bone of offspring increased with zinc supplementation. In conclusion, supplementing breeder Japanese quails ration with zinc and Vit E improved hatchability and growth performance and immune response of offspring.

Keywords

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