Fiber levels in laying quail diets

Abstract The objective of this work was to determine the effect of inclusion levels of dietary fiber in the Japanese quail diets. 480 Japanese quail were distributed in a completely randomized design, with 5 treatments and 12 replicates composed of 8 birds each. The treatments were constituted by five increasing levels of fiber in the diet: 2.78; 3.08; 3.38; 3.68; 3.98%. The parameters of productive performance, water consumption, egg quality, total lipids in the egg, excreta humidity, weight of digestive organs and intestinal morphology were evaluated. There was no significant effect of the use of different fiber levels on feed intake, egg production, viability, live weight, relative and absolute weight of gizzard, small intestine and cecum, and in excreta moisture of Japanese quais. Higher dietary fiber levels resulted in improvements in feed conversion per mass and per dozen eggs and higher water consumption. There was no significant difference for egg quality, except fot the color of the yolk where it was observed higher pigmentation of this structure with higher levels of fiber inclusion, and the lipid concentration in the buds was influenced in a quadratic manner. The inclusion of fiber promoted improvement in the villi of the duodenum and cecum.

摘要 本研究旨在明确日粮膳食纤维添加水平对日本鹌鹑（Japanese quail）的饲喂效应。试验选取480只日本鹌鹑，采用完全随机试验设计，设置5个处理组，每组设12个重复，每个重复包含8只鹌鹑。各处理组日粮的膳食纤维水平依次递增，分别为2.78%、3.08%、3.38%、3.68%、3.98%。本试验测定的指标涵盖生产性能、饮水量、蛋品质、鸡蛋总脂质含量、粪便含水率、消化器官重量及肠道形态学指标。不同膳食纤维添加水平对采食量、产蛋率、存活率、活体重、肌胃、小肠及盲肠的绝对重量与相对重量，以及日本鹌鹑的粪便含水率均无显著影响。当日粮膳食纤维水平升高时，单位产重料重比及每打鸡蛋料重比均得到改善，且鹌鹑饮水量显著提升。蛋品质整体无显著差异，仅蛋黄颜色除外：随着膳食纤维添加水平升高，蛋黄着色程度显著提升；蛋黄脂质浓度则随膳食纤维水平呈二次方变化趋势。膳食纤维的添加可改善十二指肠及盲肠的绒毛形态。