Effects of Rearing Systems and Dietary Regimens on Growth Performance, Carcass Yield, and Meat Quality of Japanese Quails (Coturnix coturnix japonica)

Abstract

This experiment compared the impacts of cage and deep-litter rearing systems and three dietary plans (standard diet, energy-rich diet, and protein-optimized diet) on the growth performance, carcass yield, and meat quality of Japanese quails (Coturnix coturnix japonica). There were 720 one-day old quail chickens that were assigned to a 2x3 factorial with six treatment groups and four replicates per treatment (30 birds per replicate). The reared birds were 42 days old; growth parameters (body weight, feed intake, feed conversion ratio), carcass characteristics (dressing percentage, breast and thigh yield, abdominal fat), and meat quality parameters (pH values, color, water holding ability, tenderness, proximate composition, and sensory characteristics) were taken. The feeding system influenced the intake of feed and other parameters of activity substantially, whereas the diet plan had a great impact on the growth rate, carcass composition and meat proximal composition. Caged bird reared better than deep-litter in terms of body weight gain and feed conversion ratio, whereas deep-litter birds were more energetic and lean. The high-energy diet enhanced fat deposition and intramuscular fat leading to slightly reduced water-holding capacity and the sensory perception. The protein-optimized diet generated better yield in the breast muscle and low serum urea nitrogen (indicator of better protein utilization). There were major interplays between rearing system and diet in breast yield and meat tenderness. Comprehensively, the findings indicate that the rearing environment should be considered when formulating the diet in Japanese quail production to enhance the effectiveness of production and meat quality; the balance between the amount of energy and protein intake and housing must be optimized by the producer.