T he current study was conducted to compare between nutritional quality of quail and chicken eggs. Proximate chemical analysis, minerals, vitamins, fatty acids and amino acid content of quail and chicken eggs were determined. Results showed that the percent of protein, fats, ash of quail eggs was higher than that of chicken egg. There was no significant difference at P<0.05 between cholesterol content of quail and chicken eggs which was 12.26 and 12.48 mg/g, respectively. Quail eggs scored higher contents in Fe, Cu, Mg and P, while chicken eggs were higher in Ca, Zn, Na and K. The predominant fatty acids in quail and chicken eggs were oleic, palmitic and linoleic acid which were 42. 54 and 40.65, 27.53 and 26.96; 16.61 and 16.33%, respectively. The essential amino acid leucine was recorded the highest level in quail eggs (8.95 g / 100 g protein), while lysine amino acid was the highest in chicken eggs (7.47 g / 100 g protein). Tryptophan was the first limiting amino acid in all investigated samples. The results revealed that the protein efficiency ratio (PER) for both quail and chicken eggs was 3.29 and 3.21, respectively. Therefore, the biological value of the quail egg protein was higher than that of the chicken egg protein. So, the current study confirmed the vital and economic importance of quail eggs, and suggested that it is necessary to more studies to identify the health impact of quail eggs consumption.

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