Abstract
The objective of this research was to evaluate the performance of birds and the quality and enrichment of eggs from quails fed diets supplemented with vitamins A, D and E. Three experiments were performed, one for each vitamin, under completely randomized experimental design, with six replicates and eight birds per plot, totaling 192 quails. Performance of birds was evaluated by the daily feed intake, egg weight, laying percentage (%) and food conversion, per kg and dozen of eggs. It was also evaluated the internal quality (Haugh unit, yolk index and yolk and albumen percentages) and external quality (eggshell percentage, egg specific gravity, eggshell thickness and weight) and the concentration of vitamins in egg yolk by using the high performance liquid chromatography method. Vitamins supplementation did not improve productive performance neither the internal and external quality of the eggs, except for vitamin D supplementation, which increased intake. Incorporation of vitamin A in yolk increased 536.27% at level 30,000 UI/kg, vitamin D increased 13.43% at 1,500 UI/kg and vitamin E increased 479.05% at 600 UI/kg, and these results evidence that the nutritional value of eggs, related to vitamins, can be increased through supplementation of diets for quails.
Highlights
Eggs contain several nutrients such as proteins, lipids, vitamins and minerals, and other substances with important biological functions like essential amino acids
Similar results with vitamin A supplementation were described by Lin et al (2002) and Mendonça Júnior et al (2002), who did not verify any differences on feed intake of hens supplied with vitamin A supplementation
* significant (P
Summary
Eggs contain several nutrients such as proteins, lipids, vitamins and minerals, and other substances with important biological functions like essential amino acids. Millward (2004) claimed that the egg protein is highly bioavailable and its nutritional quality is higher when compared to other feed. According to Pita et al (2004), consumers are becoming even more aware on the important relationship between diet and health, and this importance has stimulated researchers and feed industry to develop products enriched with nutrients that can promote beneficial effects to health. Squires & Naber (1993) observed increase of retinol level in yolks of eggs from chicken fed vitamin A supplementation at levels that were one, two or four times higher than the recommended by NRC. Investigating the effect of supplementation and the fastness of cholecalciferol transfer from laying hens diets to egg yolks, Mattila et al (2003) verified that the egg yolk enrichment reached the highest values after 8-13 days of supplementation and that after 112 days of supplementation, the concentration of cholecalciferol decreased gradually
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