The effects of using different levels of banana (Musa acuminata) peel powder on productivity performance, egg quality, blood parameters, fatty acid profile, and intestinal histopathology of laying quails.

In this study, the effects of banana peel powder (BPP) supplementation to quail diets on production performance, egg quality, some blood parameters, fatty acid profile, egg cholesterol and small intestinal histopathology were investigated. The experiment was conducted with 180 laying quails over a seven-week period. The birds were fed diets containing different levels of dried banana peel powder (0 %, 2.5 %, 5.0 %, and 7.5 % BPP). Each treatment group consisted of 45 quails, with 9 birds per replicate. According to the results, BPP supplementation had no significant effect on egg production, feed conversion ratio, shape index, yolk weight, yolk index, albumen weight, albumen index and Haugh unit. However, feed intake and egg weight decreased significantly with BPP supplementation (P < 0.01). Positive effects were observed in the 2.5 % and 5 % BPP groups regarding eggshell weight (P < 0.01), in the 7.5 % BPP group for eggshell thickness (P < 0.05), and in the 2.5 % BPP group for yolk color (P < 0.05). Significant differences were also found in some egg yolk fatty acid parameters between the control and BPP groups, including C16:1, C17:0, MUFA, PUFA, PUFA/SFA, and n-6 (P < 0.05), and C18:2 (P < 0.01). No significant differences were found among groups in terms of blood parameters. On the other hand, BPP supplementation caused dose-dependent adverse effects on small intestinal histopathology (P < 0.01). In conclusion, while BPP supplementation at increasing levels had some beneficial effects (e.g., on yolk fatty acid composition, shell weight, shell thickness, and yolk color), it also led to negative outcomes (e.g., reduced feed intake and egg weight, and intestinal tissue damage). Therefore, it can be concluded that BPP should be included in the diets of laying quails at levels lower than 2.5 %.