Growth and Carcass Characteristics of Japanese Quails Fed Diets Containing Varying Levels of Moringa Leaf Meal

Abstract

The present experiment was conducted to evaluate the effect of incorporation of Moringa Leaf Meal (MLM) in the diet on growth and carcass characteristics of Japanese quails. One hundred and fifty day-old chicks were randomly allotted to five dietary treatment groups with three replicates of 10 birds each for 5 weeks. Moringa leaves were dried, ground and incorporated at 0 (T₁; Control), 1.5% (T₂), 3.0% (T₃), 4.5% (T₄) and 6.0% (T₅) per cent levels, respectively, in iso-caloric and iso-nitrogenous broiler quail diets to meet the requirements as per NRC (1994). Results indicated a significant increase (P<0.01) in body weight gain, overall feed intake and improved (P<0.01) FCR with incorporation of MLM at 3.0 % in the diet compared to other treatment groups. There was no significant difference in the carcass traits with respect to dressing percentage, meat: bone ratio and percentage of heart, liver, gizzard or giblet. However, incorporation of MLM at 3.0% level had increased carcass yield and ready to cook yield (P<0.05) compared to control group. The feed cost/kg gain decreased by 7.27 in T₃ as compared to the control (T₁). Thus, it is concluded that MLM can be incorporated at 3.0% level in the quail diets for economical production without any adverse effects