Published in Scientific Papers. Series D. Animal Science., Vol. LVI
Written by Yusuf KONCA, Selma BÜYÜKKILIÇ BEYZI
When choose feeding applied in poultry breeding birds can adjust their ration and this may be considered in terms of animal welfare and performance and carcass quality improvement. The complete ration costs may be higher than individual feedstuffs. When breeders achieved satisfactory results with choice feeding based on cereals they can obtain economical advantages. This study was conducted to investigate the effects of free choice feeding based on emmer (Triticum dicoccon), triticale (Triticale) and wheat (Triticum sp.) on Japanese quail (Coturnix coturnix japonica) growth performance, inner organ traits and intestinal viscosity. In the experiment, basal diet and ground emmer, triticale and wheat were offered separately in two different feeders. The treatments were: (1) Control (C, basal diet), (2) C and emmer (CE) (3) C and triticale (CT) and (4) C and wheat (CW). A total of 240 three-day-old Japanese quail were randomly distributed to 4 equal groups with 6 replicate and fed for 35 d. Body weight (BW) and feed intake (FI) were determined at 3, 10, 24 and 38 d of age. Carcass and inner organ weights were determined at end of the experiment. Intestinal viscosity was measured. There was no difference among the group in terms of BW at 3 d (p>0.05), but on d 10, 24 BW of C group was higher than other groups and BW of wheat group was higher than CE and CT group at 10 d (p<0.01). The BW of CE group was higher than C and CW group at 38 d (p<0.01). The body weight gain (BWG) in the C group was higher than CE and CT groups at 3 to 10 days but C group’s BWG was lower than CE and CW groups at 24 to 38 days (p<0.01). The BWG of CE group’s was higher than C and CW groups at 3 to 38 d (p<0.01). The FI and feed conversion ratio (FCR) of quail were not statistically influenced (p>0.05) by the treatments. There was no difference among the groups in terms of mortality. The carcass yield, liver, small intestine, heart and total gastrointestinal tract ratio were not statistically influenced by the free choice feeding based on triticale emmer and wheat (p>0.05). However, in the wheat group’s gizzard ratio was higher than triticale and emmer groups and in this group abdominal fat pad was higher than other groups (p<0.01). Intestinal viscosity of quail was not influenced by choice feeding (p>0.05). These results show that ground emmer, triticale and wheat may be given separately together as basal ration and some advantageous in performance may gain with choice feeding based on emmer.
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