Water salinity and air temperature on quail production and organ characteristics

ABSTRACT The supply of salt water in the semiarid region is a recurrent practice, as there is a severe shortage of water for use in animal consumption. Thus, most of the times the water offered to the birds can contain salts above the recommended amount. The present study aimed to evaluate the production performance and morphometry of the organs of Japanese quails as they were supplied with drinking water with different concentrations of sodium chloride, while being maintained in comfort and under thermal stress. The birds received water with increasing electrical conductivity (1.5, 3.0, 4.5 and 6.0 dS m-1) and were kept in a climate chamber at thermoneutral air temperature (24 °C) and under thermal stress (32 °C), being distributed in a completely randomized design and 2 × 4 factorial scheme. Water electrical conductivities did not affect the performance of the birds, except for the weight of the gizzard, which showed an increasing linear effect as the electrical conductivities increased. At the stress temperature, there was reduction in feed intake, egg weight and mass, and in feed conversion per dozen eggs, but with no effect on the weights of the heart, liver and gizzard. Japanese quails in the production phase can consume water with electrical conductivity of up to 6.0 dS m-1, showing good production performance and without compromising organ morphometry.

摘要：半干旱地区的盐水供应是一种常见做法，因畜禽饮用水资源严重匮乏。因此，多数情况下供给禽鸟的饮用水盐分含量可能超出推荐标准。本研究旨在评估饮用不同浓度氯化钠饮用水的日本鹌鹑的生产性能与器官形态学特征，试验分别在舒适环境与热应激条件下开展。试验鹌鹑饮用电导率梯度递增的饮用水（1.5、3.0、4.5和6.0 dS·m⁻¹），饲养于气候箱中，分别设置热中性空气温度（24℃）与热应激温度（32℃），试验采用完全随机设计与2×4因子试验方案。饮水的电导率对鹌鹑生产性能无显著影响，仅肌胃重量随电导率升高呈线性递增趋势。在热应激温度条件下，鹌鹑的采食量、蛋重与蛋总质量、每打蛋料重比均出现下降，但对心脏、肝脏与肌胃的重量无显著影响。处于生产阶段的日本鹌鹑可饮用最高电导率为6.0 dS·m⁻¹的饮用水，仍可保持良好的生产性能，且不会对器官形态学特征造成不良影响。