Vol. 7, Issue 11 (2018)

Author(s):
J Subhashini, L Radhakrishnan, S Ezhil Valavan and J Ramesh

Abstract:
The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of graded levels of chocolate waste replacing maize on laying performance and egg quality in Japanese quails. The laying performance of Japanese quails was evaluated from 7 to 16 weeks of age on 300 Japanese quails with an average body weight of 216.27±0.94 g at 6 weeks of age. The quails were randomly allotted into 4 different treatment groups. Each treatment contained five replicates; each replicate had 15 quails (10 females and 5 males) with the sex ratio 2:1. Four experimental diets with different levels of chocolate waste were formulated as follows: T₁ (control), T₂ (5%), T₃ (10%) and T₄ (15%). During the experimental period, the feed efficiency per kg egg mass, hen day and hen housed egg production and egg quality were not statistically significant (p<0.05) between the treatment groups. No significant variation was observed in the per cent livability across the dietary treatments. Therefore, it could be concluded that chocolate waste can be safely incorporated up to 15 per cent in Japanese quail layer diet without affecting the laying performance and egg quality of Japanese quails.