Effects of Different Zinc Sources on Productive Performance and Egg Quality, Blood Parameters and Immune Response in Japanese Layer Quail

This experiment was conducted to investigate the effects of different sources of zinc on performance, egg quality, and immune system and blood parameters of Japanese laying quails. Total of 160 layer quails were allocated in 4 treatments include: 1) Basic diet as control, 2) Basic diet + 50 mg zinc/kg of diet from nano zinc oxide (n-ZnO), 3) Basic diet + 50 mg zinc/kg of diet from Availa-Zn as organic source (Availa-Zn) and 4) Basic diet + 50 mg zinc/kg of diet from zinc oxide as inorganic source (ZnO) in a completely randomized design with 4 replicates. Commercial traits included feed intake (FI) Feed conversion ratio (FCR) egg production; Egg quality charctresitics were weekly evaluated. Different sources of zinc didn’t show the significant effects on feed intake, haugh unit, egg weight and production (P>0.05). But Availa-Zn and n-ZnO improved FCR as compared to control (P<0.05). Eggshell thickness was higher in Availa-Zn group than other experimental groups (P<0.05). There were significant differences in yolk index, eggshell resistance and yolk color of n-ZnO versus control group (P<0.05). The toe web swelling reaction as the immune response was significantly higher in n-ZnO than control group at 24 hours post-injection of PHA-P (P<0.05). Different blood parameters of hepatic enzymes (alkaline phosphatase, alanine transferase, aspartate aminotransferase) and biochemical parameters (cholesterol, triglyceride, HDL, LDL) were not affected by experimental treatments (P<0.05). According to the results, it seems addition of Availa-Zn can improve the egg quality and performance of Japanese layer quails in comparison with the nano and mineral forms zinc supplementation.