The effects of different levels of dietary energy and protein on performance and carcass characteristics of Japanese quails

This study was carried out to evaluate the effects of different levels of dietary metabolizable energy and crude protein on performance (during 5-24 and 25-38 days of old) and carcass characteristics of Japanese quails. The experiment was conducted in a 3×5 factorial arrangement in a completely randomized design with four replicates at each treatment and 40 quails at each replicate. Fifteen diets including three levels of metabolizable energy (2800, 2900 and 3000 kcal ME/ kg) and five levels of crude protein (22, 23, 24, 25 and 26%) were considered. On day 41, one hundred twenty birds were slaughtered to access carcass characteristics. No significant interaction among energy-protein and protein levels on measured characters was observed. During 5-24 days of old, daily weight gain of quails fed 3000 kcal ME/ kg diet (4.42 g) was higher than the other levels (P< 0.01) and feed conversion ratio was lower in 3000 (2.90) than 2800 ME (kcal/kg of diet) (3.21) (P< 0.01). During 25-38 days of old, daily weight gain increased (6.16 g) and feed conversion ratio decreased (3.52) with increasing ME level from 2800 to 3000 kcal ME/ kg (P<0.05). The ME level had not significant affect on feed intake and carcass, breast and thigh yields. It concluded that using diets containing 3000 kcal ME/ kg and 22% crude protein is recommendable to achieve a desirable performance in Japanese quails.