Abstract
The experiment was carried out to evaluate the productive performance of European quails (Coturnix coturnix) in the production phase, fed with diets containing different levels of digestible lysine. A total of 175 female quails, aged 65 days, were randomly distributed in a completely randomized design with five treatments and five replicates per treatment. The animals were housed in 25 metal cages, and each cage represented an experimental parcel, with seven birds per parcel. The birds were fed the experimental rations containing 1.177, 1.217, 1.317, 1.417, and 1.517% digestible lysine. The parameters evaluated were: laying rate, mass of eggs produced, feed intake in the period, lysine intake, feed conversion per dozen and per mass. Significant differences were observed for posture rate with quadratic behavior, which indicated higher production for the level of 1.23% of digestible lysine. There was an increasing linear behavior for the feed and lysine intake, and for conversion feed per dozen and by mass, we observed quadratic behaviors. This indicates better feed conversion index when the optimal inclusion level was 1.33% and 1.404% of digestible lysine in the diet, respectively. The requirement of digestible lysine in diets for European quails is 1.404%, which corresponds to a daily intake of 421.20 milligrams of digestible lysine.
Highlights
The creation of quail for production of meat and eggs has presented an expressive growth in Brazil, since it represents a good alternative to obtain products of high nutritional quality for population (Drumond et al, 2013; Fernandez et al, 2018)
Feed intake was higher among quails fed with the maximum lysine level (1073.14), whereas the lowest intake was observed in the lower level of lysine added to the diet
The highest mean feed conversion per dozen of eggs was observed for quails fed with the highest level of lysine (500.14), and the lowest for the level of 1.317% (447.95)
Summary
The creation of quail for production of meat and eggs has presented an expressive growth in Brazil, since it represents a good alternative to obtain products of high nutritional quality for population (Drumond et al, 2013; Fernandez et al, 2018). In 2016, the number of quail in Brazil, regardless of the type of creation (meat or egg production), was 15.1 million birds distributed in various regions of the country. This fact coincides with the emergence of great automated creations and new forms of commercialization of quail’s egg and meat (Fernandez et al, 2018; Silva et al, 2009). The introduction of digestible lysine in order to maximize weight gain in European quails has been studied, as reported by Ton et al (2011), who verified an optimal level of 1.52% of digestible lysine in their study, while Barreto et al (2006) verified an optimal level of 1.20%
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