الفهرس 
Cover Page Title in EnglishOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
 |  | from | 224 |  |  |
| | | from | 224 | | |
Abstract
This work was conducted at Department of Nutrition and Clinical Nutrition, Faculty of Vet. Med. Alexandria University to investigate the effect of various dietary protein and calcium levels on growth performance, carcass traits, blood biochemical changes and nutrient digestibility of growing Japanese quail as well as on productive and reproductive performance during laying period. Seven hundred and twenty of 14 day old Japanese quail chicks were used in this study. The chicks were individually weighed, randomly allocated into 6 groups of mixed sex (120 quails per each group). Quail chicks of groups 1, 2 and 3 were fed on the experimental diet containing 24% crude protein with standards calcium content according to NRC recommendation (0.8%) or 25% more calcium than NRC 1994, recommendation (1.0%) and 50% higher calcium than the requirement (1.2%) for the three groups respectively, while chick groups 4, 5 and 6 were fed on the experimental diet containing 21% crude protein with 0.8 or 1.0 and 1.2% dietary calcium respectively. During laying period each group of growing period fed on standard, 25% higher or 50% higher calcium and different protein levels was allotted into two groups fed 20 or 17% crude protein with standard calcium requirement (2.5%) or 20% higher (3.0%) or 40% (3.5) respectively to be different twelve experimental groupsThe obtained results can be summarized as follows: Growing period: The obtained data indicated that high dietary protein content (24%) non significantly (P≥0.05) decreased final body weight and total weight gain when compared with Japanese quail group fed on lower protein containing diet. Moreover, higher dietary calcium inclusion significantly improved body weight, body gain and relative growth rate throughout the whole growing period when compared with quail chick group fed on the same protein level with standard calcium dietIt was observed that high protein feeding decreased total feed intake by about 1% when compared with low protein feeding group, also increasing dietary calcium level increased total feed intake of growing Japanese quail Higher protein feeding throughout the whole experimental period deteriorate FCR, PER and EEU of growing Japanese quail by about 1.5%, 13.9% and 0.3% respectively when compared with quail chick group fed on lower protein diet. While 25% higher calcium inclusion in growing quail diet significantly improved FCR, PER and EEU when compared with quail chicks group fed on the same protein with standard calcium containing diet Higher protein with standard calcium content of growing quail chick diets increased (P≥0.05) total RBCs counts, haemoglobin percent and packed cell volume but decreased (P≥0.05) total WBCs counts when compared with quail chick group fed on lower protein diet. Meanwhile 25% higher dietary calcium level than standard improved total WBCs counts when compared with group fed on the same protein with standard calcium containing dietIt was observed that various dietary protein and calcium levels had no significant effect on blood serum total protein, albumin, globulin, glucose, calcium and phosphorus concentrations.Higher protein with standard calcium content for growing quail chick diets non significantly (P≥0.05) increased serum triglycerides when compared with quail chicks group fed on lower protein diet. Also lowest levels of serum HDL and LDL were seen at 1.0% dietary calcium level with high protein content (24%). However the highest levels of serum HDL and LDL were seen at 1.2% dietary calcium level with high protein content(24%) The obtained data indicated that various dietary protein and calcium levels had no adverse effect on hepatic function and had no significant effect on GOT and GPT blood serum concentrations. However, higher protein increased blood serum uric acid and creatinine concentrations when compared with quail chick group fed on lower protein diet. Moreover, 50% higher calcium than recommendation deteriorated kidney blood serum parameters It was observed that various dietary protein and calcium levels had no significant effect on lymphocytes, basophile, easinophile, monocytes and neutrophile percentage of growing Japanese quail. However, increasing dietary protein and calcium levels during growing period increased hetrophile/lymphocyte ratio (H/L ratio). The higher H/L ratio indicated that the chicks under stress and 25% higher dietary calcium than NRC recommendation may improve immune response of growing quail chicks Higher protein feeding with standard calcium content for growing quail chick diets non significantly (P≥0.05) increased phagocytic activity and index by about 4.1% and 6.1% respectively when compared with chick group fed on lower protein diet. Moreover, different calcium levels had no significant effect on phagocytosis parameters• Higher dietary protein with standard calcium content non significantly (P≥0.05) decreased bursa weight and bursa relative weight and significantly (P≤0.05) decreased thymus gland weight and thymus gland relative weight but improved (P≥0.05) spleen weight and spleen relative weight. Also, dietary calcium levels had no significant effect on immune organs weight and relative weights. 1.0% dietary calcium with 24% protein is recommended to improve immune response and fighting infectious diseases Higher protein feeding with standard calcium content non significantly (P≥0.05) decreased dressing%, gizzard weight, gizzard relative weight, proventriculus weight and heart weight but increased (P≥0.05) liver weight, liver relative weight, proventriculus relative weight and heart relative weight when compared with quail chick group fed on lower protein diet. However, dietary calcium levels had no significant effect on different carcass traits. The highest dressing % was seen with diet containing 1.0% calcium with high or low protein content• Higher protein feeding with standard calcium content decreased dry matter, organic matter, inorganic matter (ash), crude protein, ether extract, crude fiber and nitrogen free extract digestibility but increased calcium and phosphorus digestibility. 25% or 50% high dietary calcium content with high and low protein levels increased dry matter and organic matter digestibility but decreased crude protein and ether extract digestibility. However, inorganic matter, crude fiber and nitrogen free extract digestibility showed unclear line It was observed that lower dietary protein (21%) with 25% higher calcium than recommendation improved economical efficiency of growing Japanese quail production when compared with other treatment Laying period: It was observed that various dietary protein levels had no significant effect on final body weight or weight gain of laying quail hens. However, 20% higher calcium than recommended requirement and higher protein content during both growing and laying period (24/20) significantly improved final body weight and total weight gain throughout thefed on the same protein level with standard calcium content or with lower protein diet during laying period It was observed that various dietary protein and calcium levels during laying period had no significant effect on egg production percent. However, 20% higher calcium than recommended requirement and higher protein content during both growing and laying period (24/20) non significantly improved egg production percent throughout the whole laying period Higher protein feeding improved egg weight and egg mass of laying hens when compared with hens group fed on lower protein diet. Moreover, 20% high calcium content than recommendation improved egg weight and egg mass when compared with laying hens group fed on the same protein diet with standard calcium containing diet The obtained data indicated that higher dietary protein during laying period decreased average daily feed intake when compared with hens group fed on lower protein containing diet. On the other hand, high calcium inclusion increased average daily feed intake when compared with group fed on the same protein with standard calcium containing diet Higher or lower protein feeding during growing period with high protein diet during laying period non significantly improved FCR throughout the whole laying period. Moreover. The best FCR value was obtained by feeding high protein during both growing and laying periods (24/20) with standard calcium level (2.5%), followed by those feeding on low protein diet during growing period and high protein during laying period (21/20) with 20% higher calcium (3.0%) than standard It was observed that various dietary protein and calcium levels had no clear effect on egg hatchability or fertility of laying quail hens, however the best value was obtained by quail hen group fed on higher protein with 20% high calcium containing diet. The obtained data revealed that various dietary protein and calcium levels had no significant effect on egg index and egg shell thickness of Japanese quail hens, while high protein feeding during laying period increased egg shell weight and relative percentage when compared with hens group fed on lower protein containing diet. On the other hand, egg shell weight slightly decreased with increasing dietary calcium in layinghen died High dietary protein content during laying period increased dry matter%, organic matter% and crude protein% of egg shell, but lower dietary protein level during growing with high dietary protein level during laying period led to the highest mineral substance% and calcium% of egg shell but led to the lowest phosphorus% of egg shell. Moreover, higher dietary calcium inclusion during laying period decreased dry substance% and minerals substance% but increased organic matter%, protein% and calcium% of egg shell Various dietary protein levels had no significant effect on egg yolk or albumin index during different laying phases. However, high protein diet during laying period improved egg yolk index but reduced (P≥0.05) albumin index throughout the whole laying period 20% high calcium had no significant effect on egg yolk index during different egg phases, while higher calcium level reduced yolk indexes when compared with hen groups fed on standard calcium level. Higher dietary calcium numerically increased albumin index when compared with hen groups fed on standard calcium level. Also, various dietary protein and calcium levels had no significant effect on egg yolk weight and its relative percentage or on albumin weight and relative percentage during different laying phases Different dietary protein or calcium level in laying quail ration had no significant effect on most morphological characters of quail eggs Higher protein feeding during laying period non significantly (P≥0.05) increased haemoglobulin percent and packed cell volume. On the other hand, higher protein content during both growing and laying period also low dietary protein content during both growing and laying period non significantly decreased RBCs counts and total WBCs counts Various dietary calcium levels had no significant effect on blood picture during laying period Different dietary protein levels had no significant effect on blood serum total protein, albumin, globulin, glucose and calcium concentrations Higher protein feeding during both growing and laying periods reduced (P≤0.05) blood serum phosphorus concentration than lower dietary protein Various dietary calcium levels had no significant effect on serum total protein, albumin, globulin, glucose, calcium and phosphorus during laying period Various dietary protein and calcium levels had no significant effect on blood serum lipid concentrations of laying Japanese quail Both various protein and calcium levels during laying period had no significant effect on liver and kidney function parameters of laying quail Various protein and calcium levels during laying period had no significant effect on differential leucocytic counts or on phagocytic activity and index of laying Japanese quail Both various protein and calcium levels during laying period had no significant effect on weight (g) and relative weight of some immune organs Various protein and calcium levels during laying period had no significant effect on different carcass traits.