Effects of supplementary zinc and vitamin E on fertility and hatchability of breeder Japanese quails and offspring growth performance and immune response

This study was conducted to investigate the effect of dietary supplemented with zinc oxide (0, 40, 80, 120 and 160 mg /kg of diet) and vitamin E (Vit E; α-tocopherol acetate; 0 and 40 IU/kg of diet) on fertility and hatchability of Japanese quails, and growth performance and immune response of their progenies. A total of 960 Japanese quails (Coturnix coturnix japonica) 70 d of age were housed in cages and randomly allocated to 10 treatments with 4 replicates of 24 birds in each (sixteen females and eight males). Dietary supplemented zinc and Vit E significantly increased hatchability (P≤0.05). There was a significant effect of Vit E on breeder quails fertility, while zinc supplementation was reduced embryonic mortality at the second stage (10-16 day) (P≤0.05). Supplemental zinc significantly improved feed conversion ratio of offspring in the first three weeks of age, while added Vit E improved feed conversion ratio only in the first week of offspring growth (P≤0.05). Dietary supplementation of Japanese quail’s ration with zinc and Vit E increased immune response of offspring, and enriched Zn content of tibia bone of offspring increased with zinc supplementation. In conclusion, supplementing breeder Japanese quails ration with zinc and Vit E improved hatchability and growth performance and immune response of offspring.