Effect of humic acid as an organic additive on growth performance, carcass traits and selected blood parameters of Japanese quails

Abstract

The supplementation of different organic sources to diet have become an inherent practice in poultry production to improve the growth and quality of meat. Therefore evaluation of the effects of humic acids (HA) on the final body weight, carcass traits and the changes in selected blood parameters of Japanese quails was the major concern in this study. A total of 72 one day old unsexed Japanese quail chicks from line Pharaoh fed a commercial diet were randomly divided into one control and two experimental groups (n=24) with two replications (12 and 12 per pen), and fattened for 52 days. The dietary treatments consisted of the basal or control diet without supplementation and the diet supplemented with 0.5% and 1.0% of humic acids (HA1 group at 5g•kg-1 and HA2 group at 10g•kg-1) from the 1st day finally to 52 days of fattening in HA1 and HA2 group, respectively. The results showed that quails weight and carcass yields of breast and thigh meat after 52 days of fattening did not show any alterations between monitored groups. The 1% addition of HA had a positive impact on the reduction of blood cholesterol level, which can contribute to the use of HA in the feed for the production of quality meat with low-fat content