Effect of Different Levels of Organic Selenium and Vitamin E on Performance and Meat Quality in Japanese Quail

The present study was conducted to evaluate the effect of different levels of organic selenium and vitamin E on performance and meat quality in Japanese quail. Four hundred eighty quails were carried out in a completely randomized design with two levels of organic selenium (0.2 and 0.4 mg/kg) and three levels of vitamin E (18, 90 and 180 mg/kg). Four replicates with 20 quails were allocated to each experimental treatment. The results showed that there were no significant differences in weight gain, feed intake and feed conversion ratio among experimental treatments. Water holding capacity was affected by level of vitamin E and it was significantly increased, with increasing dietary vitamin E supplementation, but the difference between 90 and 180 mg/kg vitamin E was not significant. Percentage of dry matter and acidity of meat were not affected by experimental treatments. The amount of malondialdehyde in thigh meat samples were influenced by interaction of vitamin E and selenium. Treatments which was containing 0.2 and 0.4 mg/kg organic selenium and 180 mg/kg vitamin E had the lowest malondialdehyde among experimental treatments. By increasing storage time, produced malondialdehyde was increased. Results shows that adding high levels of selenium and vitamin E (treatments which was containing 0.4 mg/kg organic selenium and 180 mg/kg vitamin E) as antioxidants in quail diet, improves oxidative stability, storage time and meat quality.