Effect of dietary supplementation of three powdered Melilotus officinalis, Oliveria decumbens Vent, Aloe vera L on quantitative, qualitative and biochemical properties of Japanese quails’ eggs

The presence of antibiotic residues in protein product is one of the most important problems in the poultry industry. Therefore, the researchers tried to find out different natural and non-harmful compounds as alternatives to antibiotics and chemical additives in the poultry diets that are being used in human food. For this purpose, the present experiment was designed to investigate the effects of three medicinal plants on the quantity, quality and biochemical properties of Japanese quails’ eggs. Total of 525 one-day-old Japanese quail were randomly distributed into 7 groups with three replicates and 25 samples in each replicate. The groups were assigned to receive treatment diets as follows: ) basal diet with no supplementation (control), 2) the treatment diet supplemented with two levels (0.5 and 2%) of each herbal plant (Melilotus officinalis, Oliveria decumbens Vent, Aloe vera L). Based on results, the use of Aloe vera L led to the statistically significant (p ≤ 0.05) increase in mean Japanese quail egg production. Also, thiobarbituric acid and yolk cholesterol levels decreased significantly in the treated groups (P<0.05). However, significant differences were detected concerning albumen protein (%) and total protein (%) levels in the treatment groups in comparison to the control group. The use of Aloe vera L in quail ratio caused significant (P ≤ 0.05) decrease in Hough unit compared to the control group. The results from this study suggest that adding 0.5 and 2 percentages of these three herbal plants to the quails’ diet could improve quantity, quality and biochemical properties of the Japanese quails’ egg products.