EFFECT OF ADDING DIFFERENTLEVELS OF FLAXSEED OIL IN MATURE JAPANESE QUAIL DIETS ON PRODUCTIVITY AND EGG QUALITY THROUGH 3-4 MONTHS OF AGE

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

Poult. Dept., Fac. Agric., Zagazig Univ., Egypt

Abstract

We aimedin this trial to investigate whether different levels of flaxseed oil (FLX oil) can affect the productivity and egg quality of quails during 3-4 months of age. A total of 180 healthy mature quails (120 females + 60 males), aged 3 months, were randomly distributed into 3 groups. Each group contained 4 replicates with 10 females+ 5 males each. The first group received the standard diet included no oil, while the 2nd and the 3rd groups received the standard diet included 0.5% and 1.0% FLX oil, respectively. The trial continued for one month, until the 4th month of age. The data revealed that adding FLX oil to mature quail diets at levels of 0.5% and 1.0% insignificantly improved egg weight (P= 0.892), egg production rate (P= 0.167), egg mass (P= 0.443), and feed conversion ratio (FCR, P= 0.134).  Quail groups which received diets with 0.5% and 1.0% FLX oil consumed feed less (P<0.001) than the control group. This effect was augmented by the increase in dietary oil level since the 1.0% FLX oil-treated group consumed feed less than the 0.5% FLX oil-treated group. There were no substantialalterations in all studied egg quality including egg weight (P=0.891), egg shape index (P=0.204), yolk relative weight (P=0.117), albumen relative weight (P=0.375), shell relative weight (P=0.648), shell thickness (P=0.388), yolk index (P=0.957), and Haugh units (P=0.889). In conclusion, despite the non-significant effect of adding FLX oil to a mature quail diet on laying performance and egg quality, the use of higher levels of FLX oil may be capable of improving egg production indices and feed utilization.

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