Abstract
To determine the relationship of arginine with lysine for Japanese quails during the period of production, an experiment was conducted using 360 subspecies of Japanese quails (Coturnix coturnix japonica) with 162 days of age, distributed in a completely randomized design. Diets were formulated with corn, soybean meal, sorghum and wheat bran containing 20.0% crude protein and 2,800 kcal ME/kg. The basal diet contained suboptimal level of lysine equal to 1% and was supplemented with five levels of L-arginine 99% (0.032; 0.083; 0.134; 0.185 and 0.236%) to replace the glutamic acid, corresponding to the relationship of arginine with digestible lysine of 1.16, 1.21, 1.26, 1.31 and 1.36. The parameters studied were: feed intake, egg production per hen/day, egg production per hen housed, commercial egg production, egg weight, egg mass, feed conversion by egg mass, feed conversion per dozen eggs, weight and percentage of components of the eggs (yolk, albumen and shell) and specific gravity. There was no significant effect on the relationship of arginine with digestible lysine in the diet of Japanese quails for any of the parameters examined. The arginine/lysine ratio of 1.16, which corresponds to a daily intake of 288.84 mg of arginine, provides satisfactory performance and egg quality of Japanese quails.
Highlights
According to the IBGE (2007), quail raising has shown considerable growth in recent years: the squab has grown 5.3% compared with 2006, while egg production has totaled about 131 million dozen
Little is known about the nutrition parameters for quail; quail growers often uses foreign tables of nutritional requirements that can over-or underestimate the nutritional requirements of these birds in Brazilian conditions
Arginine is an essential amino acid, because since they lack the urea cycle, birds have the functional requirement of arginine greater than mammals (Baker, 1994)
Summary
According to the IBGE (2007), quail raising has shown considerable growth in recent years: the squab has grown 5.3% compared with 2006, while egg production has totaled about 131 million dozen. Little is known about the requirement of other amino acids such as arginine. There is evidence that there is Arginine is an amino acid available for studies of nutritional requirements, but its supplementation in diets is not yet common, it is considered an essential amino acid and plays important functions in mammals and birds (Cynober et al, 1995). The recommended use of arginine in diets for quail are based on the NRC (1994), as there are no studies with this amino acid found in Brazil. Knowing that climatic conditions and management are factors that may influence the use of this recommendation, this research aimed to evaluate different relationships of arginine whit lysine in the diet of laying Japanese quails
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