Abstract
The present study aimed to evaluate the effect of dietary Moringa oleifera (M. oleifera) leaves and/or seed powder on laying Japanese quail performance in terms of egg production, egg quality, blood serum characteristics, and reproduction. In total, 168 Japanese quails (120 hens and 48 males) at eight weeks of age in laying period were randomly distributed to four treatment groups, with six replicates per group and seven birds (five hens and two males) per replicate. The first group (G1) served as a control group, while G2, G3 and G4 groups were supplemented with M. oleifera leaves (ML) and M. oleifera seeds (MS) and their combination ((1 g/kg ML; 1 g/kg MS; and 1 ML g/kg + 1 MS g/kg (MSL), respectively). From the results, feed consumption, feed conversion ratio, egg weight, fertility and hatchability from fertile eggs, egg and yolk index, and Haugh unit were not affected by dietary treatments. However, egg production, egg mass, eggshell thickness, and hatchability were significantly increased and blood aspartate transaminase (AST) and urea decreased in the MS treatment. Both triglycerides and total cholesterol were reduced (p < 0.05) in all treatments with ML, MS, and MSL, with no significant differences in alanine aminotransferase (ALT), albumin, total protein, globulin, and A/G ratio among dietary treatment. Our results clearly indicated that the inclusion of M. oleifera seeds in Japanese quail diet significantly increased egg production and improved hatchability, along with some egg quality parameters, and also lowered some blood biochemical components.
Highlights
Traditional synthetic feed additives such as antibiotics, growth stimulants, antioxidants, antiparasite, and antifungal agents have been used for decades in poultry feed
This is not in agreement with Olugbemi et al [28] who found that using Moringa leaf meal (20%) as a replacement for sunflower seed meal in chicken layer diets led to significant decrease in egg production and whole egg weight
Riry et al [29] found that feeding Japanese quails on a diet with 5% M. oleifera seed meal led to a decrease in feed intake in contrast to the control birds
Summary
Traditional synthetic feed additives such as antibiotics, growth stimulants, antioxidants, antiparasite, and antifungal agents have been used for decades in poultry feed They pose many issues such as residues in animal products and resistance to antibiotics in the consumer, which is a matter of public health [1]. Revolution in animal feed production has resulted in the development of feed additives in the forms of phytogenics [2,3] Herbs and their metabolites (known as bioactive substances) play a good role as feed additives. These bioactive compounds such as carotenoids, flavonoids, and herbal oils help enhance animal health and productivity to yield safe and healthy products [4]. Halle et al [9] did not observe significant effects for some additives such as oregano and its essential oils, savory, Nigella sativa L. and cacao husks on live weight, and carcass parameters of broilers
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