Qualitative indicators of quail eggs for feeding distillers dried grain with solubles

Abstract

An actual problem today is the utilization of waste products of the processing industry by feeding them to animals in order to obtain various products of animal origin, including quail eggs. With this aim, a scientific and economic experiment was conducted to determine the productivity effect of table poultry laying quails feeding with distillers dried grain (DDGS) in the composition of feed in the amount of 5–20 % per the quality indicators of eggs. At the beginning of the experiment, the 42-day-old quails of the Japanese breed were divided into 5 groups according to the principle of analogues where the 1^st one was the control and the 2^nd–5^th were the experimental ones. Each group included 24 females and 6 males. In the compound feed of animals of the 1^st control group the distillers dried grain (DDGS) was absent. Animals of the 2^nd experimental group consumed compound feed with a content of 5 % distillers dried grain (DDGS), the 3^rd experimental group – 10 %, the 4^th experimental group - 15% and the 5^th experimental group – 20 % of the specified feed. It is proved that the highest egg productivity of quail is achieved by consuming 10% of distillers dried grain (DDGS) in the compound feed. The doses of DDGS by 5 and 15 % also has a positive effect on the egg productivity of quails. A similar trend occurred in the weight of eggs. Thus, the highest rate was in animals that consumed feed containing 10% distillers dried grain . With the content of 5 and 15% of this  feed in the diet of quails, the weight of eggs laid by them also exceeded the control, but with lower values. Increasing the part of distillers dried grain in the feed to 20% has a negative effect on both laying and weight of quail eggs.However, analysis of the chemical and morphological composition of the eggs has shown that the quality of quail eggs does not depend much on the proportion of distillers dried grain (DDGS)  when it is contained in feed in the amount of 5–20% by weight of feed. Changes in the chemical and morphological composition of quail eggs during distillers dried grain (DDGS) feeding were not statistically significant. Thus, the optimal content of distillers dried grain (DDGS) in the feed of laying quails can be considered as 10 %.