Effects of dietary coconut oil meal with or without an enzyme mixture on laying performance and physical parameters of eggs of Japanese quail (<em>Coturnix coturnix</em>)

Abstract

The objective of this study was to determine the effects of incorporation of dietary coconut oil meal (COM) upto 20% with or without an enzyme mixture on egg production of Japanese quail (Coturnix coturnix). A total of 144 quails housed in 36 cages in a completely randomized design with 3 x 2 factorial arrangement with six replicates. Each treatment group received one of the six experimental diets ad libitum from 7 to 13 weeks. Experimental factors were three dietary COM inclusion levels (0, 10 and 20%) and two enzyme levels (0 and 0.1/kg). The level of COM or supplementary enzyme had no significant effect on bird’s live weight. Feed intake and the total egg production of the quails fed with 10% COM incorporated diet are significantly higher than those of quails fed diets without COM. The level of dietary COM had no effect on weight or the shape index of eggs. Compared to 0%, 10% dietary COM significantly increased the percentage weight of yolk with concomitant reduction in albumin weight. Shell thickness was also significantly improved when quail were fed with 10% dietary COM. It was concluded that COM could be included upto 20% in laying Japanese quail diets without adverse effects on production performance. Enzyme supplementation did not improve the performance.

Keywords

• coconut oil meal, enzyme, japanese quail, performance