Combined vitamins, minerals and amino acid supplement improves eggshell quality but not egg weight in Japanese quails (Coturnix coturnix japonica)

摘要

The Japanese quail (Coturnix coturnix japonica) is remarkable in terms of production potential for meat and eggs and as an alternative model for poultry research. Just like the layer chickens, the quail industry can also suffer from poor eggshell quality resulting in serious economic losses. While there are commercially available supplements manufactured to promote egg performance for chicken layers, these are often difficult to find specific for quails. Hence, this study was conducted to determine the effect of combined vitamins, minerals, and amino acid supplement on the external egg quality of Japanese quail eggs which can be used as baseline information to formulate supplements tailored for quail layers. Twenty birds per treatment were given different levels of supplement via the drinking water and external egg quality parameters were measured weekly and after supplementation, respectively. Our study clearly demonstrated an interaction between the levels of supplementation and the amount of time (in wk) the birds were on supplement on egg shell thickness (p ≤ 0.05). Egg shell thickness was highest between 1.5 g/L and 2 g/L at the fourth wk of supplementation and decreased after two wks the supplementation was withdrawn. Similar results were observed on the egg shell weight except for the overall egg weight which remained relatively unchanged.