EFFICACY OF DIFFERENT MEDICINAL HERBS BLENDS AS FEED ADDITIVES ON THE PERFORMANCE, BREAST MEAT COMPOSITION, NUTRIENT DIGESTIBILITY, TIBIA BONE CHARACTERISTICS AND ECONOMICAL EVALUATION OF JAPANESE QUAIL

Abstract

: Six blends of medicinal herbs were used in Japanese Quail diet to study their effects on performance, plasma lipids, breast meat compassion, tibia bone characteristics and nutrient digestibly in Japanese Quail. One hundred eighty (180, one-day-old) unsexed quail were divided into six dietary treatments including basal diet with no addition of medicinal herbs (T1), basal diet plus 15 g/kg of herbal blends including; cinnamon and thyme powder (T2), rosemary and anise seed powder (T3), caraway and coriander powder (T4), Fenugreek and cumin seed powder (T5) and parsley and watercress powder (T6). The results showed that chicks were fed T6 mixture of parsley and watercress) achieved high % of crude protein in breast meat of Japanese, while ash% was higher in group fed T4 in which fed mixture diets with fenugreek and cumin. The digestibility of nutrients were significantly (P<0.05) enhanced in T6 except ether extract digestibility and ash retention, which were achieved the highest values in T4 (caraway and coriander) compared with the other groups. Supplementing the diets of Japanese quail with mixture of parsley seeds and watercress at level of 15 g/kg of basal diets resulted significant improvement in the performance, plasma lipid triglycerides, cholesterol, HDL, LDL., breast meat protein, , tibia bone characteristics (tibia weight, length, diameter, ash and robusticty index and nutrient digestibility (protein, calcium, phosphorus and nitrogen). T6 in which chicks were fed basal diet supplemented with 1.5% parsley and watercress powder (50%:50%) achieved the highest net revenue compared with the other supplemented treatments.