Abstract
The aim of the current study was to assess the influence of Lactuca serriola supplemented diet on performance, carcass characteristics and intestinal microbiota count of Japanese quails. A total of eighty birds of quail (one week of age) were divided into 2 groups of 40 birds each (five replicates of eight birds each). In the first group, the birds were fed a basal diet without Lactuca serriola, while the birds in the second group were fed diets containing 20 g Lactuca serriola /kg feed. Birds in both groups were fed for five weeks. Quails were slaughtered in order to study intestinal microbiota count and carcass characteristics at six weeks age. The results showed that quails fed Lactuca serriola had higher growth performance including body weight in comparison with the control group. The inclusion of Lactuca serriola had significantly higher lactic acid bacteria count and lowest level of E. coli and Salmonella enterica count than the control group. However, Lactuca serriola did not affect carcass measurements. Thus, supplementation of Lactuca serriola can improve the performance of Japanese quail and used as a new feed additive to balance gut microbiota
Highlights
In recent years, products of different species of poultry are marketed including quail products
Research has demonstrated that Lactuca serriola contains lactic acids and β- carotene as well as it is considered as rich source of almost all vitamins and minerals including calcium, zinc and iron (Noumedem and Kuete, 2017)
Faecal lactic acid bacteria (LAB) were determined according to the method of Kareem et al (2016) while the population of E. coli E-30 and Salmonella enterica was measured following the procedure described by Kareem (2020)
Summary
In 2019, Lactuca serriola leaves were collected from a botanical garden of Erbil city (Kurdistan Region, Iraq). Eighty Japanese quails (a week of age with an average weight of 11.58 ± 0.21 g) were used to achieve the studied objective. Feed and fresh water were provided ad libitum for all birds until the 6th week of age. To meet the quails’ requirements, the basal diet composition (Table 1) was formulated based on the guidelines provided by the National Research Council (1994). Ten birds for each treatment group (6 weeks of age) were weighed and slaughtered following the halal slaughter procedure. Faecal LAB, E. coli and Salmonella enterica count. Faecal lactic acid bacteria (LAB) were determined according to the method of Kareem et al (2016) while the population of E. coli E-30 and Salmonella enterica was measured following the procedure described by Kareem (2020). The results of bacteria count were expressed as CFU log10/g
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