Arginine requirement for egg production in Japanese quail.

The objective of this study was to determine the ideal arginine intake for egg production in Japanese quail using the dilution technique. A completely random design was used, with 8 treatments (seven concentrations of arginine plus a control diet) and ten replicates, totaling 80 Japanese quails. The digestible arginine levels included in the study were 0.361%, 0.603%, 0.843%, 1.084%, 1.204%, 1.311%, and 1.460%. The variables analyzed were feed intake, egg production (EP), egg weight, egg output (EO), feed conversion ratio, and body weight were performed using a mixed model. When the effect of arginine levels (P ≤ 0.05) was detected, the model's broken line linear-plateau (BL), quadratic-plateau (BLq), and the first intercept of the BLq in the plateau of BL were adjusted to determine the ideal arginine intake. It observed that the arginine levels modified the quail responses (P < 0.001). Egg production was 10% with the 0.361% arginine in diet and recovered (97%) with the 1.311% arginine diet. The BL and BLq models estimated 232 mg/quail per day and 351 mg/quail per day for EO, respectively. The first intercept obtained was 290 mg/quail per day or 1,411%, which was considered the optimum level arginine intake for EO in Japanese quail.

Canola and coconut oils in the feed of European quails (Coturnix coturnix)

The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of the inclusion of canola and coconut oils to diets of European quail (Coturnix coturnix) over performance and carcass yield. One hundred and ninety-two quail (eight-days old) were randomly allocated to four dietary treatments with six replicates of eight birds each. The treatments were arranged in a factorial 2×2 scheme with two sources of dietary oil containing two levels of canola and coconut oils (1 and 2%). For performance variables, the final weight was evaluated, and the carcass variables were feed intake, weight gain, and feed conversion. A significant difference was observed between treatments for feed intake, with the inclusion of 2% canola oil providing higher intake. There was also significant effect for carcass characteristics on weight at fasting, eviscerated carcass, liver and gizzard weights, as well as liver, heart, and gizzard yields. The inclusion of vegetable oil such as canola and coconut oils in diets for European quail at the levels of 1 and 2% can be performed with no negative effect on performance from 8 to 42 days of age.(AU)