The physical characteristics of quail egg fed lower grade tobacco as a feed additive in the tropical environment

Abstract

The objective of this study was to evaluate the physical characteristics of quail eggs which fed with and without lower grade tobacco as a potential additive. This study used laying quail as experimental animals that offered rations with or without lower grade tobacco flour. The tobacco addition as an additive treatment was 0%; 0.5%; 1% and 2%. Each level treatment was repeated 4 times and designed using a Completely Randomized Design pattern. Quail reared in colony cages were fed rations with and without tobacco addition according to standard requirements and drinking water on ad-libitum basis. The parameter observed were the physical quality of quail eggs which consisted of egg weight, egg shape index, yolk colour, shell weight and thickness. The results of this study presented strongly significant on yolk colour and shell thickness. Otherwise, the tobacco additives did not have any impact on egg weight, egg shape index, shell weight, and haugh unit which were an average of 9.98 g, 80.10, 0.91 g, and 61.33, respectively. This result indicated that the tobacco addition of up to 2% in quail ration was safe and had no detrimental effect on the physical characteristics of quail eggs and it showed a significantly increase on yolk colour along with the increase levels of tobacco addition.