Effects of Octacosanol, Wheat Germ Oil and Rice Oil Supplementation on Egg Quality Traits of Laying Quail

Abstract

Abstract The study was carried out in the poultry field of the Animal Production Department of the Faculty of Agriculture at Tikrit University. The current study aimed to estimate the effects of adding different percentages of octacosanol, wheat germ oil and rice oil to the ration on egg quality traits. 96 laying quail (age 45 days), were used and divided into six treatments were included: adding the octacosanol/kg feedstuff (T1 without adding, T2=15 mg, T3=20 mg, T4=25 mg), (T5) was adding 5 ml of wheat germ oil/kg feedstuff and (T6) wasadding 5 ml of rice oil/kg feedstuff, which each treatment included four replicates. It used three female quails for each one male, during 90 days at the age of 16 weeks. The results showed the following: no significant effect (P<0.05) of dietary octacosanol, wheat germ oil and rice oil supplementation which was recorded on relative weights of shell, yolk and albumen, and shell thickness also yolk color, egg shape index, albumen index, yolk index, egg quality of laying quail. However, there was a significant increase (P<0.05) in hough unit for the two treatments that it included octacosanol powder (20 and 25 mg) compared to the control treatment, However, there was no significant difference between the addition treatments.