Document Type : Research Paper
Authors
Abstract
An experiment was conducted to evaluate the effects of purslane seed on performance, egg quality traits and some serum biochemical parameters in Japanese quails. In this experiment were used 192 laying quails in a completely randomized design with four treatments, four replicates and in each replicate 12 laying quails. The period of this experiment was two months. Experimental groups included 0, 1, 2 and 3% of purslane seed in diet. The eggs were collected, counted and calculated every day. At the end of this experiment, four eggs selected from each replicate randomly for analyzing egg quality (percentage of yolk, albumen, shell, shell thickness, yolk color and internal quality unit). Also, at the end of the experiment, from each group, two laying quails were selected to evaluate serum biochemical parameters. The results showed that feeding laying quails with 2% purslane seed increased egg production in compared with the other groups (p<0.05). Adding of purslane seed to diets did not affect feed intake, but improved feed consumption ratio (p<0.05). Also, supplementing 3% purslane seed in laying quails diet increased internal quality unit (IQU) (p<0.05). In addition, feeding purslane seed in diets significantly affected serum biochemical parameters (glucose, triglycerides, cholesterol, albumin, total protein, HDL, uric acid, and MDA) (p<0.05). Form the results of this experiment concluded that feeding up to 3% purslane seed in diet, improved egg production, egg quality and some of serum biochemical parameters in laying quails.
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