Effect of physiological stress and dietary chromium nanoparticles supplementation on performance and meat quality traits of Japanese quail

Effects of chromium nano particles (NanoCr) on performance and meat quality traits of Japanese quail under physiological stress، using 360 birds to six treatment groups، four replicates and each replicate consisted of 15 birds of quail was determined from d 17 to 35. The groups were negative control (non-stressed)، and five groups under stress supplemented with different levels of NanoCr (0، 200، 400، 800 and 1200 µgkg-1). Dexamethasone (0. 6 mgkg-1 BW) was added to diet for induction of physiological stress. Physiological stress، reduced feed intake and growth، whereas increased feed conversion ratio (FCR) and thigh and breast muscles malondialdehyde (MDA) concentration (P0. 05). Stressed birds were fed diets containing increased levels of NanoCr linearly improved weight gain (P 0. 02)، and decreaced FCR (P 0. 05)، MDA levels in breast (P 0. 04)، and thigh muscles (P 0. 006). The results showed that supplementation of diet with NanoCr can alleviate the negative effects of physiological stress on performance and meat quality in quails.