Growth and laying performances of Japanese quails fed hazelnut kernel meal diets enriched with L-lysine, DL-methionine and L-threonine

Abstract

This study was conducted to evaluate the growth and laying performances of Japanese quails (JQ) fed hazelnut kernel meal (HKM) diets enriched with L-lysine, DL-methionine and L-threonine. There were two experiments and both of these studied three different diets. First diet was 100% dehulled soybean meal (DSBM), the second diet was 50% HKM / 50% DSBM (50HKM), and the third diet was 100 % HKM (HKM). During the first experiment diets were examined as growing diets for a 5-week period using 450 one week old JQ's and in the second experiment diets were examined as laying diets for 112 days using 180 seven week old JQ's. At the end of the growth period, there were no differences (P > 0.05) between DSBM and HKM in terms of body weight gain (BWG) and feed conversion ratio (FCR), but quails fed 50HKM had a higher BWG and a more positive FCR (P < 0.05). Quails fed HKM diets had lower feed intake (FI) than quails fed DSBM and 50HKM (P < 0.05). Carcase yield, edible organs, gastrointestinal length and gastrointestinal weight were not affected (P > 0.05) by the inclusion of HKM instead of DSBM in the diet. In experiment 2, HKM quails had a lower FI (P < 0.05) compared to DSBM and 50HKM quails. Dietary inclusion of HKM instead of DSBM did not affect (P > 0.05) FCR, egg production egg weight and yolk colour. It was concluded that DSBM can be replaced totally by HKM diets enriched with amino acids Lys, Met and Thr in grower and layer diets for JQ. However, the best growth performance was obtained with a composition of 50% HKM and 50% DSBM.