Effect of different dietary n-6: n-3 fatty acid ratio on performance, egg quality, some blood and reproductive parameters of Japanese quails breeder

This experiment was conducted to study the effect of different dietary n-6: n-3 fatty acid (FA) ratio on performance, egg quality, some blood and reproductive parameters of Japanese quails breeder. A total of 720 Japanese quails (Coturnix coturnix japonica) were used in a completely randomized design with five treatments, six replicates and 24 birds (16 females and eight males) in each replicate. Dietary treatments were control (n- 6: n-3 FA ratio were 13) and different n-6: n-3 FA ratios (1:1, 3:1, 6:1 and 9:1). The results showed that, quails fed diet with n-6: n-3 FA ratio of 1:1 had the highest feed intake in comparison with the others (P <0.05). Egg mass of quail was increased significantly when their diets containing n-6: n-3 FA ratio of 6:1, in comparison with 9:1 and control (P <0.05). The birds fed diets containing n-6: n-3 FA ratio of 1:1 and 6:1 had higher eggs Haugh unit rather than control (P <0.05). Feeding quails with diets containing n-6: n-3 FA ratio of 1:1 to 9:1 reduced serum triglyceride concentration compared to the control group. Blood cholesterol concentration of birds that fed diets containing n-6: n-3 FA ratio of 1:1 and 6:1 was lower than control and blood glucose was the highest in the birds that fed diets containing n-6: n-3 FA ratio of 1:1 (P <0.05). The results of this experiment showed that the use of dietary n-6: n-3 FA ratio of 6:1 in breeder quail diets can improves production performance.