When Japanese quails (Coturnix coturnix japonica) were kept in stainless steel cages with 1200 cm
2 of floor space and fed the autoclaved diets for six weeks after hatching, growth, feed intake, excreta weight, feed efficiency, protein efficiency ratio, coefficient of apparent digestibility of nitrogen, and the ratios of retention of nitrogen, calcium, magnesium and phosphorus were studied.The results obtained are summarized as follows.
1) The growth of Japanese puails fed diet A and B, which were composed mainly of commercial mixed feed for Japanese quail and for chick, respectively, were comparable. The birds gained their weight in maximum during the third week. Japanese quails of one and two weeks of age, which were fed diet A supplemented egg yolk powder for the first week after hatching, showed more weight gain than the control group. Japanese quails housed at a density of two birds per cage (lower density group) gained more body weight than those of 13 birds per cage (higher density group) . Between the normal group and the depressed group, in which growth depression was obtained by feed restriction during a week from one week of age, there was still a significant difference in the body weight at the end of the experiment.
2) Weekly feed consumption and excreta weight per 1 g of body weight were maximun during the second week. More feed consumption in the lower density population group than in the higher density group was observed.
3) Weekly feed efficiency, protein efficiency ratio and coefficient of apparent digestibility of nitrogen decreased with ages of the birds, and the ratios or coefficient cumulatively calculated for whole experimintal period were similer bet-ween both groups fed diet A and B.
4) Weekly ratios of retention of nitrogen, calcium, magnesium and phosphorus were highest during the first week after hatching. The ratio of nitrogen retention of the diet A fed group decreased until the third week and thereafter incerased considerably. In the case of the diet B fed group, the ratio of nitrogen retention decreased until the fourth week and increased in the sixth week. Ratio of cumulative nitrogen retention for six weeks of the diet A fed group was higher than that of the diet B fed group. Since the ratios of retention of calcium, magnesium and phosphorus for the diet A and the diet B fed group decreased sharply and more gradually respectively at the second or third week after hatching, cumulativer atios during six weeks were higher in the latter than in the former.
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