The Influence of Dietary Protein Level on Body Weight of Japanese Quail Lines Selected Under High- and Low-Protein Diets

Abstract

Two experiments were conducted to determine the protein requirement of quail lines (P and T) following selection for increased 4-wk BW under normal-protein (28% CP) and low-protein (20% CP) diets, respectively. Quail progeny from Generation 39 breeders were fed diets containing 18, 21, 24, and 27% CP from 0 to 5 wk of age in Experiment 1, whereas in Experiment 2, quail progeny from Generation 79 breeders were fed diets containing 18, 21, 24, 27, and 30% CP from 0 to 4 wk of age. Quail from the unselected base population (C line) were also included in both experiments.Significant line, diet, and line by diet interactions were present in both experiments. At 2 wk of age, T line quail were significantly (P < .05) larger than P line quail across diets, whereas by 4 wk, BW of P line quail were significantly larger than those of T line quail. Across dietary protein levels, quail receiving diets containing 24% CP or higher were significantly larger than those receiving the 18 and 21% CP diets. Quail in both the P and C lines had larger BW with increasing protein levels and an apparent protein requirement between 24 and 27% CP. However, quail in the T line showed no BW response to increased protein levels, indicating that long-term selection for increased BW on a 20% CP diet had altered the protein requirement in this line. Results indicated that quail populations selected under high-protein environments require such environments for maximum growth, whereas populations selected under low-protein environments do not require high-protein diets for full expression of their genetic potential for growth.