Spirulina in diets of Japanese quail: Productive performance, digestibility, and egg quality
Oliveira, Maria Cristina deOliveira, Matheus Andrade DiasGonçalves, Nathália RodriguesFerreira, Pauliny do CarmoLima, Diego Silva
The present studyevaluatedthe effects ofdietary inclusion of spirulina on productive performance,nutrientutilization,and egg qualityof Japanese quails. One hundred twenty quails wereincluded in a completely randomized design with four treatments and five replicates. Treatments consistedof a control diet and three diets containing 0.3, 0.6,or 0.9% of spirulina powder. Spirulina inclusion hadno effect (p>0.05) on the productive performance, digestibility coefficients of dry matter and ether extract, calcium and phosphorus retention, weight and pH of the eggs, yolk index, albumen quality, and eggshell thicknesswhen compared with the control diet. However,crude protein consumption was higher (p<0.05)and the digestibility coefficient of crude protein was lower (p <0.05) inbirdsin the0.9% and 0.3% spirulina inclusiongroups, respectively. Theweightsof the yolk and eggshell were improved (p<0.007) by theinclusion of0.6% and 0.9% and 0.9%spirulina,respectively.Quails fed diets containing 0.3% and 0.6% spirulina exhibited lower specific gravity of eggs(p<0.019)than those fed diets containing 0.9% spirulina.Therefore, spirulina inclusion at 0.9%improvedthe eggshellqualityand reduced thetotal lipidlevelsin the yolks.(AU)
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