PERFORMANCE OF LAYING JAPANESE QUAILS (Coturnix coturnix japonica) FED DIETS CONTAINING FERMENTED MANGO (mangifera spp) KERNEL COMPOSITE MEAL AS REPLACEMENT FOR MAIZE

Yerima Shettima Kolo¹, ¹Hamber Terkura Samuel & Hannatu Charles²

¹Department of Animal Production, Federal University of Agriculture, Makurdi, Benue State, Nigeria.

²Department of Animal Science, Federal University, Gashua, Yobe State, Nigeria.

ABSTRACT

A study was conducted to investigate the effect of FMKCM on the performance of laying Japanese quails. One hundred and ninety five Japanese quails were randomly allotted to five dietary treatments (I –V) of 39 hens each. Each treatment was replicated thrice with 13 hens per replicate. In each of the five diets, FMKCM was used to replace maize at 0%, 10%, 15%, 20% and 25% for i, ii, ii, iv, and v respectively. Quails in this study were fed over a period 84 days. Feed intake was measured daily and the number of egg laid per replicate per day was recorded. Hen day egg production, hen house egg production, mean daily feed intake show no significant (P>0.05) difference across the treatment. The results obtained on efficiency of feed utilization differed significantly (P<0.05) across treatment groups. Quails placed on 20% and 25% inclusion levels of FMKM were best converter of feed to eggs. It was equally observed that treatment influenced time of lay, with early lay as levels of Fermented mango kernel meal increased in the diets of laying quails.

Keywords: Laying performance, Japanese quails, fermented mango kernel, maize