Quality of eggs and performance of Japanese quails supplemented with organic Cr, Se and Zn and submitted to heat stress

• Grant number: 10/04511-1
• Support Opportunities: Regular Research Grants
• Start date: July 01, 2010
• End date: June 30, 2012
• Field of knowledge: Agronomical Sciences - Animal Husbandry - Animal Nutrition and Feeding
• Principal Investigator: Valquíria Cação Cruz-Polycarpo
• Grantee: Valquíria Cação Cruz-Polycarpo
• Host Institution: Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus Experimental de Dracena. Dracena , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Considering that organic sources are more available, and thus more easily absorbed, their use tends to improve performance and life of birds, reducing the excretion of trace minerals, and therefore not polluting the soil. Thus, this project will be developed in UNESP - Campus de Dracena, with the aim of evaluating the eggs quality and performance of Japanese quails supplemented with chelated chromium, selenium and zinc when kept under heat stress. For this, 240 birds at 7 weeks of age were distributed in a completely randomized design with 5 treatments (T1: control; T2: 0.25 ppm Se + 60 ppm Zn + 0.5 ppm Cr, T3: 0.50 ppm Se + 60 ppm Zn + 0.5 ppm Cr, T4: 0.75 ppm Se + 60 ppm Zn + 0.5 ppm Cr, T5: 1 ppm Se + 60 ppm Zn + 0.5 ppm Cr) with 8 replicates of 6 birds per cage. In the first experiment will be evaluated internal and external quality of eggs for 6 cycles every 20 days, during which data will be collected for analysis: egg production, egg weight, shell specific weight, shell thickness and shell weight, Haugh unit , yolk index, albumen index and feed conversion. In the second experiment will be tested the effect of packaging material at different storage periods and temperatures on the eggs internal quality. The eggs collected will be stored in Styrofoam, plastic and cardboard packaging and kept at room temperature and refrigerated for 5, 10, 15 and 20 days. After each of these periods will be performed to evaluate the internal quality (Haugh unit, yolk index, albumen height, albumen index) of these eggs. (AU)