Effect of different dietary levles of Thyme powder (Zataria Multiflora Boiss) in diet on productive traits, internal organs and meat quality characteristics of Japanese quail

In this study, to evaluate the production characteristics, internal organs and meat quality characteristics, 225 one-day-old Japanese quail were tested in a completely randomized design with 5 treatments, 3 replicates and 15 quail per replicate for 35 days. The treatments were consisted of control diet and diets containing 0.5, 1, 1.5 and 2 % levels of thyme. The performance parameters i.e. feed intake, weight gain and FCR were assessed periodically. The Results revealed that diets containing 2% of thyme decreased feed intake in growth and the entire experiment period significantly (P0.05). The relative weight of carcass and gastrointestinal tract components were not affected by treatments (P>0.05). The highest relative weight of spleen and bursa were observed in 1 and 2% of thyme’s diets respectively (P0.05) but microbial count of meat decreased significantly with thyme powder levels in compare to the control treatment (P