Time of sexual maturity and early egg quality of Japanese quails affected by in ovo injection of medicinal plants

Abstract

The aim of this study was to evaluate the time to sexual maturity and quality of initial eggs of Japanese quail affected by in ovo injection of plant extracts: ginger (GR), garlic (GC), oregano (O) and cinnamon (C). In total, 2400 eggs of Japanese quails were divided into six groups on the fifth day of incubation. Group I was the control group (NC), which was not injected. Other eggs were injected with 0.1 mL of liquid: group II – the positive control (PC) – with distilled water, group III with 1 % solution of GR, group IV with GC, group V with O and group VI with C. After hatching, the birds were reared in a cage system and fed with balanced mixtures, and 24 h lighting was used. The time at which birds reached sexual maturity was registered, while in the seventh week of rearing, 120 eggs were subject to quality evaluation. The traits of a whole egg (shape index as the ratio of egg width to egg length, weight, specific gravity), shell (strength, weight, thickness and density), albumen (weight, height), yolk (color, weight, index) were evaluated. At the earliest, on 36th day of life, eggs were laid by birds from the GC group, followed by C (37th day), O and NC (38th day), GR (39th day), and PC (41st day). During the first 2 weeks significantly more eggs were collected from the GC than from the other groups. The heaviest eggs derived from GC and GR groups, whereas the lightest came from the C group. Eggs from the GC group had the best shell strength and the greatest proportion of yolk. The use of medicinal herbs by injection in ovo may considerably modify both time of sexual maturity and quality of the initial eggs of Japanese quail.

The Impact of Eggshell Colour on the Quality of Table and Hatching Eggs Derived from Japanese Quail

“…In chicken eggs it is confirmed that larger eggs are characterized by bigger albumen proportion as well as height of dense fraction of albumen [23]. However, in the case of quail eggs these relationships are not so unequivocal [24].…”

Maternal dietary supplementation with grape seed extract in reproductive hens increases fertility in females but decreases semen quality in males of the F1 generation

“…Injection in ovo of plant extracts (garlic) into Japanese quail eggs improved the laying rate, shell strength and proportion of yolk. This injection modified both the timing of sexual maturity and the quality of the initial eggs [ 51 ]. In our case, we found a decrease in egg weight in the GSE group, which was associated with lower fatness around the ovary and a lower fat volume at 37 weeks of age.…”

The use of selected herbal preparations for the disinfection of Japanese quail hatching eggs

“…The commercial, chemically pure powdered plant extracts of ginger (GR, Zingiber officinale ), garlic (GC, Allium sativum ), oregano (O, Origanum vulgare ), and cinnamon (C, Cinnamomum verum ) were used. The content of chosen phytochemical in PEs were analyzed as it was described before ( Al-Shammari et al, 2019 ).…”