The Effect of Various Levels of Dietary Protein on the Growth and Egg Production of Coturnix Coturnix Japonica

Abstract

A NUMBER of reports are available on the protein requirement of Bobwhite quail. Initially, a level of 27% dietary protein was suggested by Norris (1935) but other workers preferred a level of 28% protein (Nestler et al., 1942; Stadelman et al., 1945; Baldini et al., 1950). When the diet was adequately supplemented with lysine, Baldini et al. (1953) found that diets containing 20% protein supported the growth of Bobwhite quail satisfactorily. Scott et al. (1963) recommended diets containing 26.5% protein.As the interest in the study of Japanese quail (coturnix) developed, the maintenance of populations on diets containing about 28% crude protein was adopted (Woodard et al., 1965). Recent studies indicate that coturnix can be started on diets containing 25–26% protein (Weber and Reid, 1967; Vogt, 1967, 1969; Lepore and Marks, 1968; Svacha et al., 1970) and this level can be reduced to 20% after 3 weeks (Vogt, 1967;…