Abstract
A trial was conducted to evaluate the use of dehulled and unpolished whole rice in Japanese quails' diet. A total of 100 80-days-old Japanese quails (149.07 ± 10 g) were distributed in five treatments: 0% dehulled and unpolished whole rice (control diet based on corn and soybean meal), 20, 40, 60, and 80% of whole rice in replacement of corn; respectively, treatments 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5. Productive performance was evaluated through egg production (%), egg weight (g), body weight (g), egg mass (g), feed conversion per egg mass and feed conversion per dozen eggs. The following variables measured the internal quality of eggs: albumen height (mm), yolk color and percentage, egg white percentage and Haugh units. The external quality of eggs was measured through specific gravity (g cm-3), shell thickness (µm) and shell percentage. Treatment means were analyzed through polynomial regression at 5%. As the level of whole rice was increased in the diets, a significant linear increase in egg production (p = 0.005), egg mass (p = 0.007), shell thickness (p = 0.03) and specific gravity (p = 0.007) was observed. Feed conversion per egg mass (p = 0.006), feed conversion per dozen eggs (p = 0.003) and egg color (p < 0.0001), on the other hand, were reduced linearly. The increased utilization of whole rice increased the cost of the diet. In conclusion, the addition of dehulled and unpolished whole rice in partial substitution of corn in Japanese quails' diets increases the egg production and reduces the yolk color.
Highlights
Raising quails is an activity in expansion that has been highlighted each year due to its productive increase, being responsible for the generation of jobs and income in all the levels of the productive chain, mainly because it doesn’t need big initial investments, requiring little space in order to set up the raising system, providing a financial return in short orActa Scientiarum
Data were submitted to analysis of variance (ANOVA) and means were compared by polynomial regression with a significance level of 5%, being used SAS statistical software (SAS, 2002)
The lipids inclusion was increased in it, which may have led to an increase in egg production since, according to Costa et al (2008), testing different levels of soybean oil (1, 2, and 3%) in the diet of laying hens, there was an increase in egg production with the increase of such levels
Summary
Raising quails is an activity in expansion that has been highlighted each year due to its productive increase, being responsible for the generation of jobs and income in all the levels of the productive chain, mainly because it doesn’t need big initial investments, requiring little space in order to set up the raising system, providing a financial return in short or. Another reason for such success is its main product, the egg, which is a source of animal protein that has high biologic value, with good acceptance by the consuming market (LEANDRO et al, 2005; TEIXEIRA et al, 2012). Rice grain is characterized as an energy source, showing high contents of carbohydrates and low ones of lipids, and with level of crude protein close to those of the corn. It is not known its metabolizable energy for quails, it is possible to estimate the values from the ones of broken rice and rice bran (KRABBE et al, 2012). The objective was to evaluate the effect of the substitution of corn by whole rice on the productive performance and eggs quality of Japanese layer quails
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