Egg Quality Characteristics of Japanese Quails (Coturnix coturnix japonica) Fed Varying Levels of Fermented Taro Cocoyam (Colocasia esculenta var esculenta) Meal

Abstract

A study was conducted to investigate the effect of FTCM on the egg quality parameters of Japanese quails. Two hundred and twenty five Japanese quails were randomly allotted to five dietary treatments (1-V) of 36 hens and 9 cockerels each. Each treatment was replicated thrice with 12 hens and three cockerels per replicate. In each of the five diets, FTCM was used to replace maize at 0%, 25%, 50%, 75% and 100% for treatments i, ii, iii, iv and v respectively.  Quails in this study were fed over a period of 70 days. Feed intake was measured daily and quails were weighed weekly .Eggs were collected on weekly basis for egg quality analysis. Results showed that, mean weekly egg weight, shell weight, yolk weight, albumen weight, yolk index and egg breaking strength of quails fed treatments i and ii were significantly(P<0.05) higher than those fed other treatments. Quails fed diets i, ii and iii recorded highest values of shell thickness. However, there were no significant (P>0.05) differences in relative yolk and relative albumen weights across treatments. The results suggest that FTCM could replace maize up to 100% without adverse effect, but for premium egg quality, replacement should not exceed 25%.