Abstract
Two experimernts were conducted to determine the linoleic acid (LA) requirement of Japanese quail for growth and reproduction. In both experiments, day-old female Japanese quail were fed an LA-free diet until 1 week of age. In experiment 1, the birds divided into 4 groups were given diets containing graded levels of LA (0, 0.5, 1 and 1.5% in the diet) from 1 to 4 weeks of age. In experiemnt 2, the birds divided into 5 groups, and fed diets containing graded levels (0, 0.25, 0.5, 1 and 1.5%) of LA from 1 to 10 weeks of age. Egg weight during final 2 weeks was used to determine the requirement. Each LA requirement was calcuated as 90% asymptotic values obtained from the corresponding non-linear regression lines.
The LA requirement for growing quail was determined from maximum growth and minimum liver size and was estimated as about 1.1% in the diet. The LA requirement for reproduction was estimated as about 0.70% in the diet.
