• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.67-71
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• 2006

A total of 120 male and 240 female quail (Coturnix coturnix Pharaoh) were used to determine the effect of feeding time on laying and reproductive performance of Pharaoh quail. They were fed ad libitum between 09:00 to 17:00 or full day, daily. Each female-male pair was housed in multiple-bird cages and colony cages. Initial and final body weight, quail-day egg production, feed consumption per egg and mortality were measured to determine laying performance of breeders. A total of 960 eggs were used to determine reproductive performance of quail in each treatment group. Eggs were incubated in a commercial setter and hatcher in standard conditions. Embryonic mortality, apparent fertility, hatchability of total and fertile eggs were calculated to determine the reproductive performance. Results indicated that feeding between 09:00 to 17:00 h reduced final body weight and egg production (p<0.001, p<0.001). Whereas, limited time of feeding improved hatchability of total (p<0.001) and fertile eggs (p<0.001) and reduced embryonic mortality (p<0.001) when compared with the effects of feeding full day. It was found that there were no significant differences for the egg production of quail housed in different cage systems. Quail caged in multiple-bird cages consumed less feed (p<0.01) compared to quail housed in colony cages. There were significant differences for the mortality (p<0.05), hatchability of total (p<0.001) and fertile eggs (p<0.001), and embryonic mortality (p<0.001) during the incubation due to main effect of cage systems. There were significant cage $systems{\times}feeding$ time interactions for hatchability of total and fertile eggs and embryonic mortality (p<0.001). As a conclusion; feeding from 09:00 to 17:00 reduced laying performance of quail and improved the reproductive traits compared to full day feeding of quail breeders. But, further investigations are needed to determine the optimum length of feeding time and egg production of breeders in quail fed limited time must be evaluated in comparison with its beneficial or detrimental effects.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.17 no.7
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• pp.980-983
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• 2004

A 16 week feeding trial was conducted to evaluate the effects of replacement of soybean meal (SM) by extracted cottonseed meal (CSM) on laying performance and haemoglobin levels in practical diets for breeder Japanese quail (Coturnix coturnix japonica). One hundred ninety two quails (6 weeks old) were divided randomly into eight groups. The diets were isocaloric containing 2,900 kcal/kg of ME and isonitrogenous (% 20 crude protein) as fed basis. SM was replaced by 0, 2.5, 5.0, 7.5, 10.0, 12.5, 15.0 and 17.5% of CSM, respectively. Average egg production (quail day, %; quail house, %), egg weight (g), daily feed intake (g/bird), feed efficiency ratio (g feed/g egg) data indicated no significant differences among the treatments; while, blood haemoglobin levels (% g Hb) of 7th (15.0% CSM) and 8th (17.5% CSM) group were lower than the control (0% CSM) diet (p<0.05). This experiment indicated that 17.5% CSM could replace SM (providing 44% of SM protein) in practical diets of breeder Japanese quails without any significant impairment on laying performance.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.14 no.9
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• pp.1304-1307
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• 2001

The laying performance of Japanese quails fed graded levels of high glucosinolate ($92.5{\mu}mole/g$) rapeseed meal (RSM) was assessed. One hundred and twenty Japanese quails aged 1 day-old were assigned at random to four dietary treatments consisting of 0, 50, 75 or 100 g/kg RSM in the diet replacing part of the soybean meal and de-oiled rice bran in a standard quail ration. 12 female representative quails from each diet were selected at random and housed in individual cages from 7-20 wk of age. The egg production, feed intake and FCR was comparable among the different dietary groups. The egg quality characteristics, organoleptic evaluation of boiled eggs as well as the haematological (haemoglobin, total erythrocyte count, total leucocyte count) and biochemical (glucose, protein, cholesterol, aspartate amino transferase, alanine amino transferase and alkaline phosphatase) constituents did not differ significantly among the groups. The gross and histopathological studies of vital organs did not reveal any appreciable changes. The feed cost was reduced by the incorporation of RSM in the diet, but only the production cost of quails fed the 75 g/kg RSM was lower in comparison to other groups. In the present study, the laying potential of Japanese quail was well-maintained up to the 100g/kg dietary level of rapeseed meal.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.217-221
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• 1994

In avian species, addition of aspirin to the diet was shown to improve the egg production and to elevate the proportion of essential fatty acid contents in several body tissues. This study was conducted to investigate the effect of dietary aspirin on the accumulation of essential fatty acids in egg yolk. Laying Japanese quail at 170 days of age were fed practical diets supplemented with graded levels (0, 0.4 and 0.8%) of aspirin for 2 weeks. There were no significant differences in final body weight and liver weight. Food intake and egg weight on the 0.8% aspirin diet were significantly lower than those on the 0 or 0.4% aspirin diet. In the liver and egg yolk lipids, the 16:0 in birds fed the 0.8% aspirin diet was significantly higher than that in birds fed the aspirin-free diet. However, the proportion of n-6 poly-unsaturated fatty acids was not affected by feeding aspirin diets.

• Korean Journal of Poultry Science
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• v.39 no.3
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• pp.207-213
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• 2012

This experiment was conducted to investigate the effects of various levels of dietary protein on laying performance and egg quality in laying quail. A total of six hundred forty 7-week-old laying type Japanese quail were divided into four groups with eight replicates per group (20 birds per replicate) and fed four diets differing in dietary protein levels (18, 20, 22 and 24%) with isocaloric corn-soybean meal-based diets for 8 weeks. The results showed no significant differences in feed intake and egg weight among the groups. With an increase in dietary protein levels, the egg production and daily egg mass were linearly increased (P<0.05). However, there were no significant differences in eggshell thickness and Haugh unit. The dietary protein did not affect the blood levels of GOT, GPT, BUN, albumin, and creatinine. The ammonia concentration of intestinal digesta was not affected by the dietary treatments. The contents of hepatic triacylglycerol in the groups fed diets containing 20% protein or more were significantly reduced as compared with that of 18% CP group (P<0.05). Overall, this study showed that relatively high levels of dietary CP are needed to sustain the higher egg production and daily egg mass and to avoid the hepatic triacylglycerol accumulation in Japanese quail.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.20 no.6
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• pp.944-947
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• 2007

This study was conducted to study the effects of dietary garlic powder on laying performance, egg traits and blood serum cholesterol level of quails. A total of three hundred quails (Coturnix coturnix japonica) aged nine weeks were used. They were allocated to 3 dietary treatments. Each treatment comprised 5 replicates of 20 quails. The diets were supplemented with 0, 5 and 10 g/kg garlic powder. The experimental period lasted 21 weeks. The addition of garlic powder did not significantly affect body weight, egg production, feed consumption, feed efficiency, egg shell thickness, egg albumen index, egg yolk index and egg Haugh unit. Adding 5 and 10 g/kg garlic powder to the laying quail diets increased egg weight (p<0.01). Egg yolk cholesterol and blood serum cholesterol concentration were reduced with garlic powder supplementation. The results of this study demonstrated that garlic powder addition had a significant cholesterol-reducing effect in serum and egg yolk without adverse effects on performance and egg traits of laying quails.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.29 no.12
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• pp.1696-1701
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• 2016

Japanese quail is still used as a model for poultry research because of their usefulness as laying, meat, and laboratory animals. Microsatellite markers are the most widely used molecular markers, due to their relative ease of scoring and high levels of polymorphism. The objective of the research was to determine genetic diversity and population genetic structures of selected Japanese quail lines (high body weight 1 [HBW1], HBW2, low body weight [LBW], and layer [L]) throughout 15th generations and an unselected control (C). A total of 69 individuals from five quail lines were genotyped by fifteen microsatellite markers. When analyzed profiles of the markers the observed ($H_o$) and expected ($H_e$) heterozygosity ranged from 0.04 (GUJ0027) to 0.64 (GUJ0087) and 0.21 (GUJ0027) to 0.84 (GUJ0037), respectively. Also, $H_o$ and $H_e$ were separated from 0.30 (L and LBW) to 0.33 (C and HBW2) and from 0.52 (HBW2) to 0.58 (L and LBW), respectively. The mean polymorphic information content (PIC) ranged from 0.46 (HBW2) to 0.52 (L). Approximately half of the markers were informative ($PIC{\geq}0.50$). Genetic distances were calculated from 0.09 (HBW1 and HBW2) to 0.33 (C and L). Phylogenetic dendrogram showed that the quail lines were clearly defined by the microsatellite markers used here. Bayesian model-based clustering supported the results from the phylogenetic tree. These results reflect that the set of studied markers can be used effectively to capture the magnitude of genetic variability in selected Japanese quail lines. Also, to identify markers and alleles which are specific to the divergence lines, further generations of selection are required.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.13 no.12
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• pp.1726-1730
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• 2000

High fibre (CF, 242 g/kg) sunflower seed meal (SSM) was incorporated in standard grower and layer quail diets at 0, 50, 75 or 100 g/kg replacing part of the soybean meal (SBM) and deoiled rice bran (DORB). Each grower diet was offered to 30 quails housed in battery cages from day one to 5 weeks of age. At the end of the growing period, Twelve female quails from each of the four respective dietary groups were transferred to the individual laying cages and their laying performance from 7 to 20 weeks of age were evaluated on diets containing SSM at similar levels as that during the growing period. The results of growth bioassay revealed that the live weight gain, feed intake, nutrient retention and carcass characteristics of quails in different dietary groups did not vary significantly (p>0.05), although the quails fed SSM based diets utilized the feed less (p<0.05) efficiently than those fed the control diet. During the laying period, the egg production and egg quality traits remained unaffected due to dietary treatments but feed required per unit egg production increased (p<0.05) as the level of SSM in diet was increased to 100 g/kg. Although, the cost of feed per kg decreased due to the incorporation of SSM in diet but the same was not reflected in feed cost per unit gain, meat or egg production as such parameters were comparable on all the diets. It could thus be concluded that the SSM can be incorporated in quail diets upto 100 g/kg for part of SBM, an item usually expensive and also in short supply in developing countries including India.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.376-380
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• 1999

The purpose of this experiment was to study the effect of feeding winged bean (Psophocarpus tetragonolobus) oil on egg cholesterol and fatty acid of Japanese quail. Four groups of 10-week-old Japanese quails (n=10 per group) were fed a basal diet (20% CP, 2890 kcal/kg) supplemented with 5% of either animal tallow, soybean oil, corn oil or winged bean oil over an 8-week period. At the end of the experiment, 7 birds in each treatment were killed by decapitation. Blood samples and livers were collected for cholesterol analyses. There were no significant differences in final body weight, feed intake, egg production, egg and yolk weight due to the different oil treatments. Egg and plasma cholesterol levels obtained with the winged bean oil diet were higher than those obtained with the animal tallow or soybean oil diets, but were not significantly different from those obtained with com oil diet. Egg lipid, liver lipid and liver cholesterol content was lower with the winged bean oil diet than with the animal tallow diet. It may be concluded that the winged bean oil diet did not impair laying performance, but increased egg and plasma cholesterol levels compared with soybean oil or animal tallow diets. Winged bean oil diet produced eggs with a higher oleic content and lower linoleic content compared with the soybean or com oil diet.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.16 no.12
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• pp.1789-1794
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• 2003

Two experiments were conducted to evaluate the effect of substituting different levels of hazelnut kernel oil meal (HKOM) for dehulled soyabean meal (DSBM) in diets for Japanese quail. Five diets in which HKOM was replaced with 0, 25, 50, 75 and 100% of DSBM protein in a growing diet for a 5 week period using 450 Japanese quails of initial age of 1 week and in a layer diet for a 112 days period using 180 Japanese laying quails of initial age of 7 week were examined in experiments 1 and 2, respectively. Hence, treatment groups were: control (0 HKOM), 0.25 HKOM, 0.50 HKOM, 0.75 HKOM and 1HKOM. In the experiment 1, 1 HKOM decreased BWG compared with the 0 HKOM and 0.25 HKOM, while it increased FCR compared with the 0HKOM at day 21 (p<0.05). Compared with the other groups, 0.75 HKOM and 1 HKOM decreased BWG (p<0.01) at day 28. While the FCR of 1 HKOM was higher (p<0.01) than that of 0 HKOM, 0.25 HKOM and 0.50 HKOM, respectively, that of 0.75 HKOM was higher than that of 0 HKOM and 0.25 HKOM diets at day 28. However, at day 42 of age, BWG, FCR and the feed intake (FI) were not affected (p>0.05) by inclusion of HKOM. Mortality rate, carcase yield and liver, heart and gizzard weight (% of body weight) were not affected (p>0.05) by inclusion of HKOM to the diet. In the experiment 2, egg production was decreased (p<0.05) by the 1 HKOM diet compared with the 0.50 HKOM diet. While FCR increased by the 1 HKOM diet compared with the 0.25 HKOM and 0.50 HKOM diets (p<0.05). Feed intake for quails fed with the 0 HKOM diet was higher (p<0.05) than for quails fed with 0.50 HKOM diet. The egg yolk weight for 0 HKOM diet group was lower (p<0.05) than for quails in 1 HKOM diet group. In conclusion, the results indicate that DSBM can be replaced by HKOM in diets for growing and laying Japanese quails. However 50% HKOM has higher laying performance than 100% HKOM in the laying period.