Synbiotic inclusion effects on the quail’s (Coturnix coturnix japonica) performance and digestive tract development

Abstract

Abstract A 100 female a day-old-quail (DOQ) were placed in a Completely Randomized Design, five treatments and four replicates in five birds and kept for six weeks. The basal diet consisted of maize, rice bran, soy bean meal, fish meal, cooking oil, minerals mixture and amino acid, which were mixed in such a way to achieve 22% protein. Treatments are basal diet only (T1) as a negative control, basal diet + 100 ppm COS + Lactobacillus spp 106 CFU/kg (T2), basal diet + 100 ppm COS + Lactobacillus spp 107 CFU/kg (T3), basal diet + 200 ppm COS + Lactobacillus spp 106 CFU/kg (T4), and basal diet + 200 ppm COS + Lactobacillus spp 107 CFU/kg (T5). The birds had free access to their diets and drinking water. The weight and feed intake of the birds were recorded weekly. The variables were feed intake (FI), bodyweight gain (BWG), feed conversion ratio (FCR), and organ digestive weight. The data were analyzed using ANOVA and comparison tests using the Duncan test. The results revealed that the addition of synbiotics to the diet significantly improved BWG, FCR, gizzard, small intestine, and two caeca, while FI was significantly reduced (P<0.05). Other parameters were not different between treatments (P>0.05). Therefore, it could be concluded that the inclusion of synbiotics in the diet improved quail performance by improving the body weight gain and feed conversion ratio, boosting the development of the gizzard, small intestine and two caeca.