Complete replacement of corn by white or red sorghum in japanese quail feeds

Er Freitas,Ph Watanabe,Irv Lopes,Dl Raquel,Ajn Nascimento

doi:10.1590/1516-635x1603333-336

Abstract

This study aimed at evaluating the total replacement of corn by white or red sorghum and the inclusion or not of pigment in the diet on the performance and yolk color of Japanese quail eggs. In the trial, 210 Japanese quails were distributed according to a completely randomized experimental design consisting of five treatments with six replicates of seven birds each. Treatments consisted of Corn-based diet (C), white sorghum-based diet (WS), white sorghum-based diet + pigment (WSP), red sorghum-based diet (RS), and red sorghum-based diet + pigment (RSP). Feed intake, feed conversion ratio, egg production, and egg mass were no influenced by the treatments. However, paler egg yolks were produced when corn was replaced by sorghum. When red and white sorghum varieties were compared, there were no differences in yolk color or response to pigment dietary inclusion. It was concluded that the total replacement of corn by sorghum in the feed did not influence the performance of Japanese quails and that yolk color response is not affected by the inclusion of pigments in diets containing sorghum, independently of its variety.

Highlights

Problems related to corn prices and availability have driven the research on alternative feedstuffs for poultry feeding
This study aimed at evaluating the total replacement of corn by white or red sorghum and the inclusion or not of pigment in the diet on the performance and yolk color of Japanese quail eggs
Treatments consisted of diets based on corn (C), white sorghum (WS), white sorghum + pigment (WSP), red sorghum (RS), and red sorghum + pigment (RSP)

Summary

Introduction

Problems related to corn prices and availability have driven the research on alternative feedstuffs for poultry feeding. Sorghum presents adequate nutritional characteristics and it is often used to replace corn, in semi-arid and tropical regions, where sorghum crops present better nutritional yield per area and its price is lower compared with corn (Ligeiro et al, 2009). Sorghum has lower carotenoid pigment levels (xanthophyll and carotenes), which are responsible for egg yolk pigmentation. Another aspect to be considered when including sorghum in feeds is the presence of tannins. The development of low-tannin sorghum varieties has allowed their increasing inclusion in non-ruminant diets (Moreno et al, 2007), including in layer feeds (Costa et al, 2006; Moreno et al, 2007; Assuena et al, 2008; Ligeiro et al, 2009)

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