Short communication: Performance and egg quality of Japanese quails fed ground sorghum diets and increasing levels of Brazilian ginseng (Pfaffia paniculata)

Abstract

Pfaffia paniculata (Brazilian ginseng) is a medicinal plant that is thought to have anti-inflammatory, anabolic, gastroprotective, antioxidant, and pigmentation properties. This study was conducted to evaluate the effects of P. paniculata supplementation in ground sorghum-based diets on Japanese quail laying performance, and quality and shelf life of eggs. Two hundred and ten Japanese quails (28 d old) were housed in 30 cages, which were considered the experimental units. Cages were randomly allocated to 5 treatments (6 cages per treatment and 7 Japanese quails per cage), as following: ground corn-based diet (COR); and ground sorghum-based diet (SOR), with increasing content (0, 2, 4, or 6 g/kg) of P. paniculata. The evaluation period started when animals found 0.5/d of laying rate (55 d old) and lasted 56 d, divided into four subsequent sampling cycles. All eggs were sampled from d 12 to 14 of each cycle. Eight eggs from each cage were stored either refrigerated (4 °C) or at room temperature (28 °C). Egg quality was evaluated before (0 d), and after 10, 20, and 30 d of storage. Data were analyzed using the PROC MIXED of SAS. The effects of treatment were decomposed in orthogonal contrasts to evaluate SOR vs. COR; linear and quadratic effect of P. paniculata. Sorghum-based diets increased (P = 0.01) feed intake and decreased (P = 0.02) laying ratio and egg weights in relation to COR. Dietary supplementation with P. paniculata linearly decreased (P = 0.02) feed conversion ratio (kg/dozen) and quadratically affected (P = 0.02) the weight of the eggs, whereas the greatest weights were estimated when feeding P. paniculata at 2.96 g/kg. Sorghum-based diets decreased (P < 0.01) egg yolk color intensity, whereas P. paniculata had no effect in yolk color. Eggs from quails fed COR showed greater (P = 0.03) specific gravity and fewer (P ≤ 0.05) weight losses after 20 and 30 d of storage (at room temperature) compared with quails fed SOR. The P. paniculata linearly decreased (P = 0.01) egg weight losses when eggs were stored for longer periods (30 d) at room temperature. In general, SOR reduced the performance of quails and negatively affected yolk color and egg shelf life in relation to COR. However, P. paniculata may improve the performance and egg shelf life of quails fed SOR.