Aim of study: Pomegranate seed oil (PSO) is a nutritive, antioxidant-rich by-product, and it has been tested as a feed ingredient for livestock. However, studies on quails are scarce. The current study investigated that the effect of PSO on the performance and meat instrumental quality of quails. Area of study: Türkiye. Material and methods: A total of 60 seventy-day-old male quails were equally subjected to 3 dietary treatments consisting of 20 birds (5 replicates with 4 birds each). The quails were fed a diet supplemented with 0, 100, and 200 mg kg-1 pomegranate seed oil (PSO). After 10 weeks, two birds per subgroup were randomly selected and slaughtered. Main results: Supplementation of PSO reduced (p<0.05) feed intake and body weight gain linearly. However, there was no significant effect of PSO on carcass traits. For color parameters, the L* and b* values of breast and thigh meat increased with the addition of PSO to the diet (p<0.05). Cooking losses were highest in the thigh of quails fed 200 mg kg-1 PSO. On the other hand, in the breast, the lowest values for this parameter were observed in the groups that had received 100 mg kg-1 of PSO. Research highlights: Including 100 mg kg-1 of PSO can improve some meat quality characteristics without affecting performance parameters. There is a possibility that meat quality could be negatively affected by values higher than this. Nevertheless, further research is needed to determine the optimal dose of PSO to improve quail meat quality and its performance.

Inorganic selenium supplementation in poultry diet has been controversial. It has been linked that the excess and deficiency of this mineral can lead to health problems in these animals. However, this fact is not so evident in quails. In this research 120 female quails (220.6 ± 8.2 g) at 10 weeks of age were allocated to five treatment groups with six replicates of four quails in each. Experimental diets were formed by adding 0, 0.25, 0.50, 0.75 or1.00 mg/kg of inorganic selenium (sodium-selenite) to the diet containing 0.12 mg/kg of selenium. We observed that performance parameters, mortality, egg external, and internal quality of quails were not affected by the supplementation of inorganic selenium to the diet Serum glucose (P = 0.0020) and creatinine (P = 0.0333) levels were affected by inorganic selenium supplementation, but no differences were found for other parameters among those treatments. The addition of 0.50 mg/kg of inorganic selenium to the diet increased serum glucose levels of laying quails compared with the control group. While serum creatinine level was maximized with the addition of 0.25 mg/kg inorganic selenium to the diet, and it was minimized with the addition of 0.50 mg/kg inorganic selenium. Supplementation with inorganic selenium (0 to 1.00 mg/kg) in laying quail diets did not have any adverse effect on performance, mortality, and egg quality during the study. No abnormalities were found in the serum parameters that would lead to the suspicion of metabolic disease in the quails.

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Calcium content in the diet can affect egg quality and production in aged birds. Calcium pidolate is a new form of calcium supplementation in poultry diets, which favours the absorption of this mineral. The current study was conducted to evaluate the effect of dietary calcium pidolate concentration in the diets of aged laying Japanese quails. A total of 120 female quails (27 weeks old) were assigned to four treatment groups, each with six replicates of five quails per pen. In the 10-week trial, quail diets were supplemented with calcium pidolate at four concentrations (0, 0.25, 0.50 and 1.00 g/kg), providing 25.1, 25.4, 25.8 and 26.5 g/kg calcium, respectively. As a result of this study, body weight, feed intake and feed conversion ratio did not change with the concentration of calcium pidolate (P > 0.05). In contrast, albumen and yolk index decreased as calcium pidolate level increased (P < 0.05). Moreover, calcium pidolate at a concentration of 0.50 g/kg resulted in the greatest egg production, eggshell breaking strength and eggshell thickness (P < 0.05), while above these levels the factors studied were negatively affected. According to these results, the optimal concentration of calcium pidolate in the diets of aged laying quails was 0.50 g/kg.

The aim of this study is to determine the effects of adding different levels (0, 50, 100, 200, 300 and 400 mg/kg) of orange peel oil to the laying quail diets on performance, eggshell quality and some serum parameters. During the experiment, a total of 120 female Japanese quails at the age of 20 weeks were randomly distributed to 6 treatment groups with 4 replicates, each with 5 quail, for six weeks. The supplementation of different levels orange peel oil to the diets did not affect the performance and eggshell quality parameters, except for eggshell thickness. Eggshell thickness was significantly reduced with the addition of orange peel oil to the diet, and this decrease was more pronounced at the level of 200 mg / kg. Serum glucose, creatinine, albumin, globulin, total protein, ALT and AST concentrations were not affected by orange peel oil. Serum cholesterol concentration considerably declined with the supplementation of 400 mg / kg orange peel oil to the diet. Serum calcium level significantly improved with the addition of 100 and 200 mg / kg orange peel oil to the diet compared to the control group. Additionally, serum phosphorus concentration was considerably increased by 100 mg / kg and more levels orange peel oil. According to these results, it is possible to say that the orange essential oil has the effect of reducing cholesterol at 400 mg / kg and improving mineral metabolism at 100 mg / kg, but this positive effect could not prevent the decrease in eggshell thickness.

The aim of this study was to determine effects of different dietary rosemary essential oil levels on growth performance, carcass traits and haematological values of breeder chukar partridge. Eighty (60 females and 20 males), 32-week-old breeder chukar partridge were randomly divided in five treatments, with four replicate pens with 4 birds each. Five experimental diets were formulated according to rosemary essential oil inclusion rates 0 mg/kg, 24 mg/kg, 48 mg/kg, 72 mg/kg and 96 mg/kg, respectively. The experiment lasted for 8 weeks. The chukar partridges had free access to ad libitum feed and water. At the end of the trial, 1 male and 1 female partridge were slaughtered for blood analysis. The obtained results showed that there was no significant difference in feed intake, body weight gain between the control and treatment groups. Dietary rosemary essential oil supplementation did not affect blood serum glucose, urea, triglyceride, total cholesterol, HDL-C and LDL-C levels in breeder Chukar partridges. It could be concluded that supplementing rosemary essential oil into Chukar partridges diet show no negative effect on growth performance.

Bu çalışma, etlik piliçlerde kekik (Thymus vulgaris L.), biberiye (Rosmarinus officinalis L.) ve karabaş otu (Lavandula stoechas L.) esansiyel yağları ve bunların karışımlarının canlı ağırlık, canlı ağırlık artışı, yem tüketimi, yemden yararlanma oranı ve karkas özellikleri üzerine etkisini tespit etmek için yapılmıştır. Çalışmada, günlük yaşta toplam 640 adet etlik civciv (Ross 308) kullanılmış ve 5 tekerrürlü olacak şekilde 8 muamele grubuna tesadüfü olarak yerleştirilmiştir. Her bir muamele grubunda 80 adet civciv bulunmaktadır. Deneme rasyonları sırasıyla kontrol (0 mg/kg), ilave kekik esansiyel yağı (50 mg/kg), biberiye esansiyel yağı (50 mg/kg), karabaş otu esansiyel yağı (50 mg/kg), kekik + biberiye (25+25 mg/kg), kekik + karabaş otu (25+25 mg/kg), biberiye + karabaş otu (25+25 mg/kg) ve kekik+biberiye+karabaş otu (16,7 + 16,7 + 16,7 mg/kg) oluşmaktadır. Yem ve su ad libitum olarak sağlanmıştır. Çalışma 6 hafta sürmüştür. Performans parametreleri haftalık olarak belirlenmiştir. Denemenin 42. gününde hayvanlar kesilerek karkas özellikleri tespit edilmiştir. Çalışma sonuçlarına göre, rasyon farklı esansiyel yağ ve bunların karışımlarının etlik piliçlerde canlı ağırlık, canlı ağırlık artışı, yem tüketimi, yem değerlendirme oranı ve karkas özellikleri üzerine etkisi önemli olmamıştır. Effects of an Addition of Different Essential Oils and Their Combinations to Diets on Performance and Carcass Characteristics Parameters in Broilers A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T Research ArticleReceived 03 April 2017 Accepted 27 April 2017This study was conducted to determine the effect of dietary supplementation of thymus (Thymus vulgaris L.), rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis L.) and French lavender (Lavandua stoechas L.) essential oils and their mixtures on body weight and body weight gain, feed consumption, feed conversion ratio, carcass characteristics in broiler. A total of one day old 640 broiler chicks (Ross 308) were used divided into 8 groups each having five replicates, ramdomly. There were 80 chicks in each experimental group. The experimental diets were consisted of control (0 mg/kg), addition to thymus essential oil (50 mg/kg), rosemary essential oil (50 mg/kg), lavandula essential oil (50 mg/kg) tymus + rosemary (25+25 mg/kg), tymus + lavandula (25+25 mg/kg), rosemary + lavandula (25+25 mg/kg), tymus + rosemary + lavandula (16.7+16.7+16.7 mg/kg), respectively. Feed and water were provided as ad libitum. Experimental period was six weeks. The according to results that dietary different essential oil and their combinations did not significantly effect on body weight, body weight gain, feed consumption, feed conversion ratio and carcass characteristics.

The survey was carried out to establish the impact of red beet powder (RBP) on performance parameters and egg quality in laying quails. One twenty hundred (120) female laying quails aged 22 weeks were randomly assigned into five groups of 4 females each, and six replicates. Treatments diets were formed by adding 0, 0.2, 0.4, 0.6, and 0.8% RBP to the basal diet. The dietary inclusion of RBP did not affect performance parameters and egg production (P > 0.05) except feed conversion ratio, which was quadratically affected (P < 0.05). The feed conversion ratio was improved in the 0.4% group with concerning control. The inclusion of RBP did not modify the yolk color (L*, a*, b*) or egg quality (P > 0.05). However, the yolk index showed the highest value (P < 0.05) in quails fed 0.2% RBP. Free radical scavenging capacity (DPPH) of the yolk decreased (P < 0.05) when RBP levels increased above 0.6%. In contrast, the 0.6% RBP group had the highest level of thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS). Data from the present study provide valuable information to include RBP as an ingredient without affecting performance and egg production. It is an interesting option within the framework of the circular economy and of reusing vegetable products to use this ingredient in animal feed.