Effects of Different Dietary Energy Sources on the Egg Production of the Japanese Quail

The present investigation focused on determining the effects of dietary energy sources (from soya oil, palm kernel oil, cassava meal and corn meal) on egg production by the Japanese quail over a period of 10 weeks in a humid zone. A control diet and four isonitrogenous (28% crude protein; CP) and isocaloric (12.1 MJ/kg) diets were formulated with ninety adult female quail birds randomly allocated in three replications per treatment in a completely randomized design (CRD). Egg production showed significant differences (P< 0.05), which was highest for the palm kernel oil treatment and least for the corn meal treatment group. The study indicated that the inclusion of palm kernel oil in the diets of laying birds was beneficial. The observation reported on the low egg production with high corn diet needs further investigations to ascertain the extent of depression on egg production observed in the study.