Vol. 9, Special Issue 7 (2020)

Author(s):
Nethee Deori, Reema Saikia, Madhuri Lahamge and Kashmiri Begum

Abstract:
A study was conducted with 180 numbers of day old unsexed Japanese quail chicks from a single hatch and was randomly divided into four equal groups i.e. T₀ (control), T₁ (5% dried termite), T₂ (10% dried termite) and T₃ (15% dried termite) containing 45 numbers of chicks in each group which was further subdivided into 3 replicates of 15 chicks in each, to study the effect of termites (Neotermes assamensis) as a protein source on the carcass traits of Japanese quails. At the end of experiment, Carcass traits results revealed that dressed weight and dressing percentage differed significantly (P≤0.05) among the treatment groups (T₃ and T₀). The per cent yield of cut- parts like neck, wings, back, breast and thighs except drumsticks, did not differ significantly (P>0.05) among the different treatment groups. The physico-chemical properties of Japanese quail meat viz. pH, water holding capacity (WHC) and fibre diameter (FD) from breast muscle were estimated. The water holding capacity and pH of meat showed no significant (P>0.05) differences, however the highest fibre diameter was recorded in T₃ group followed by T₂ group which differed significantly (P<0.05) from T₀ and T₁ groups.