Effect of adding different levels of black mustard seed to diet on growth performance, blood metabolites and meat quality of Japanese quails

Mustard seed contains considerable amounts of energy and protein and can be used in quail's diets. OBJECTIEVES: This experiment was conducted to investigate the effects of different dietary levels of wild black mustard seeds on growth performance, blood metabolites, carcass characteristics and meat quality of Japanese quails. A total of 240 7-day-old Japanese quails were allotted to 4 treatments. Each treatment group consisted of 4 replicates of 15 birds. The mustard seed was incorporated in to the Japanese quail diets at 0, 5, 10 and 15% from 7 to 35 days of age. The AMEn value of the mustard seed was 4167 kcal/kg and it contained 28.6% crude protein, 40.3% ether extract, 5% ash and 14.8% crud fiber (as-fed basis). The results indicated that feed intake, except in 21-28 d period, and weight gain, except in 21-28 and 28-35 d periods, decrease linearly (P<0.05) with increasing dietary levels of mustard seed. Also, feed conversion ratio in 7-35 d period (P<0.01) and the relative weights of liver (P<0.01) and pancreas (P<0.05) tended to increase linearly with increasing dietary levels of mustard seed. Dietary treatments had no effect on meat quality parameters including thiobarbituric acid value, pH, drip loss, water holding capacity and cooking loss. Feed costs to produce one kg of live quail was more economic for birds were fed diet containing 10% mustard seed (P<0.05). The use of mustard seed at more than 10% is not recommended, because it has a negative effect on feed intake and weight gain.