RESUMO
The aim of this study was to determine the influence of feeding diet containing different levels of sesame seeds and oil on egg quality of laying quail. A total of 120, 10 weeks old were randomly assigned to 1 of 5 dietary groups, and were fed for 12 weeks diets containing 0 % sesame seeds + 0 % sesame oil (control group; C) or 0.5 % sesame oil (T1), 1 % sesame oil (T2), 1 % sesame seeds (T3), and 2 % sesame seeds (T4). The study was terminated when the birds were 22 weeks of age. Egg quality characteristics involved in the present study were egg weight, yolk diameter, yolk height, yolk weight, albumen height, albumen weight, Haugh unit, shell weight, shell thickness, shell percentage, yolk percentage, and albumen percentage. The addition of sesame seeds and oil to the diets of laying quail (T1; T2; T3; T4) resulted in significant improvement in the total means of the traits and the mean of trait during all periods of study respecting egg weight, yolk diameter, yolk height, yolk weight, albumen height, albumen weight, Haugh unit, shell weight, shell thickness, shell percentage, yolk percentage, and albumen percentage in comparison with control group (C), with the exclusion of shell percentage when has been observed that there was no significant difference between treatments C and T1 during period 4 and between treatments C, T1, and T2 during period 5. The results obtained in this study suggested that the inclusion of sesame seeds and its' oil into laying quail diets caused significant positive effect on egg quality criteria. Therefore, incorporation of sesame seeds and oil into the diets of Japanese quail may have practical value in manipulating egg quality.