Poultry Offal Meal as a Substitute to Dietary Soybean Meal for Japanese Quails (Coturnix coturnix japonica): Assessing the maximum inclusion level and the Effect of Supplemental Enzymes

The proximate composition, pepsin digestibility, gross energy and macro mineral contents of 12 composite samples of poultry offal meal produced in Sri Lanka were analyzed. The average dry matter, ash, crude protein, crude fiber, ether extract, in vitro pepsin digestibility and gross energy of poultry offal meal were 92.3, 6.9, 48.9, 2.1, 32.4, 83.8% and 23.6 MJ kg, respectively. The average Ca, P and Mg contents were 2.36, 1.10 and 0.09%, respectively. The replacement value of poultry offal meal for soybean meal and the effect of supplementation of poultry offal meal by dietary enzymes (Solid state fermentation and Lipase) on the performance of Japanese quails fed isocaloric and isonitrogenous diets were studied in two experiments. Unsexed Japanese quails (13 days old; N=200) were randomly assigned to twenty groups. In experiment 1, poultry offal meal was incorporated at 0, 2.5, 5, 7.5 and 10% of the diets and fed until 15 weeks of age. In experiment 2, the performance of Japanese quails fed with diets containing 0, 5 and 10% poultry offal meal was investigated. Enzyme effect was tested with diets containing 5 and 10% poultry offal meal. Cost benefit analyses were carried out to find out the most cost effective treatment. The quails fed with diets containing 5 and 10% poultry offal meal produced higher number of eggs (P<0.05) than those fed with 2.5 and 7.5% poultry offal meal containing diets. Supplementation of enzymes improved egg production by 21.9% only when 5% poultry offal meal was incorporated into the diet. The diet having 10% poultry offal meal was identified as the most cost effective treatment in terms of feed cost per kg live weight gain whereas 5% poultry offal meal diet was the best in terms of feed cost per kg eggs. Incorporation of poultry offal meal at 10% level cut down the feed cost per kg live weight gain by 4.6% as compared to the control diet. Cost benefit analysis showed that diet with 10% was the most cost effective. Enzyme supplementation cut down the mean feed cost per kg eggs by 26.9% only in the diets with 5% poultry offal meal level. 1 Department of Animal Science, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Peradeniya, Peradeniya, Sri Lanka 2 Department of Animal Production and Health, VS OfficeHaldummulla, Sri Lanka 3 Department of Agribusiness Management, Faculty of Agricultural Sciences, Sabaragamuwa University of Sri Lanka, Belihuloya, Sri Lanka 4 Department of Livestock Production, Faculty of Agricultural Sciences, Sabaragamuwa University of Sri Lanka, Belihuloya, Sri Lanka