A reassessment of Japanese quail responses in the laying phase to arginine intake using supplementation technique

• Grant number: 19/27238-3
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Effective date (Start): June 01, 2020
• Effective date (End): December 31, 2020
• Field of knowledge: Agronomical Sciences - Animal Husbandry - Animal Nutrition and Feeding
• Principal Investigator: Edney Pereira da Silva
• Grantee: Manoela Garcia Borgi Lino de Sousa
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Ciências Agrárias e Veterinárias (FCAV). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Jaboticabal. Jaboticabal , SP, Brazil

Abstract

This research will be developed with objective of re-evaluating the responses of Japanese quail in the laying phase to arginine intake and to determine the response phases of the laying Japanese quail and the respective arginine intake limits. A completely randomized design will be used with seven treatments and seven repetitions of one bird, totaling 49 birds in laying. The assay will last 10 weeks (six weeks of adaptation and four weeks for data collection). The treatments will consist of seven increasing arginine levels, obtained by the supplementation technique. A basal diet will be formulated to meet quails requirements except for arginine, which will be diet N1: 0.243% of digestible arginine. The other levels will be N2: 0.364, N3: 0.485, N4: 0.607, N5: 0.970, N6: 1.212 and N7: 1.456% of digestible arginine, resulting in a range of 600%. It will be recorded daily at ambient temperature and egg production, and three times a week the egg weight. The variables egg production, egg weight, egg mass and feed conversion will be analyzed considering arginine intake as the independent variable. Broken-line regression will be used to interpret arginine responses and intake limits for laying Japanese quails. It is expected to describe the response curve of the quails, establish the arginine intake to meet the maximum zootechnical performance and provide an option of using the supplementation technique. (AU)