Response of Laying Japanese Quail to Dietary Calcium Levels at Two Levels of Energy

Abstract

An experiment was conducted to assess the dietary levels of calcium at various energy levels in the diets of laying Japanese quail (n=400). Eight dietary treatments were formulated involving two levels of energy (2900 and 2700kcal ME/kg) and four levels of calcium (2.5, 2.75, 3.0 and 3.25%) in 2×4 factorial design. Each dietary treatment was offered to five groups of 10, i.e. 50 laying quail from 9-18 weeks of age. Hen-day egg production, egg weight, feed intake and egg mass were non significant (P>0.05) due to dietary treatments. Feed conversion (P<0.01) in terms of feed per unit egg mass or feed per dozen eggs, and net feed conversion (P<0.01) improved with the increased calcium level up to 3.0% of diet. The shape index, shell thickness or shell weight as percent of egg weight, however, did not change due to the levels of calcium. Except daily feed intake (P<0.01), other traits did not differ due to dietary energy concentration. Regression analyses revealed that egg mass (P<0.00042), egg production (P<0.0094), change in body weight (P<0.042), feed intake/kg egg mass (P<0.0043), feed intake/doz. egg (P<0.0012), net efficiency (P<0.00017) and shell thickness (P<0.054) were improved linearly with the increase in levels of calcium in diet. On partitioning of calcium and ME intake into maintenance, gain and egg mass, the R² value emanated for partitioning of calcium and metabolizable energy were highly significant (P<0.0001) and the co-efficient values for different function were also logical. It can be concluded that the dietary level of 2700kcal ME/kg and 3.0% calcium were beneficial for optimum production of quail during their peak production.