Growth response and carcass characteristics of Japanese quails fed diets containing graded levels of yam peel meal.

Abstract

A five week feeding trial was conducted to study the effect of different dietary inclusion of yam peel meal (YPM) as a replacement for maize on growth performance and carcass characteristics of Japanese quails. Two hundred and fifty-two birds were allotted to four dietary treatment groups, each containing 63 birds replicated thrice in a completely randomized design. The four diets, T1, T2, T3 and T4 were formulated such that YPM replaced maize at 0 %, 20 %, 40 % and 60 % respectively. Parameters measured were daily feed intake, daily body weight gain, feed conversion ratio, weight of carcass and body cuts. The results showed no significant (P<0.05) differences in all the parameters measured among the dietary treated groups. It was concluded that YPM can be used as a substitute for maize in the diet of growing Japanese quails up to 60% inclusion level without any deleterious effect on the growth performance and carcass characteristics.