The Effect of Dietary Apilarnil Supplementation on the Performance and Certain Slaughter Traits of Japanese Quails

This study was conducted to evaluate the effects of dietary supplementation at 0.1%, 0.2%, and 0.4% levels of apilarnil on the growth performance and some slaughter characteristics of quails. Fertile quail eggs were incubated, and chicks hatched after a 17-day incubation period. Immediately after hatching, a total of 60 mixed-sex quail chicks were randomly assigned to the experimental groups. The trial consisted of four experimental groups, including one control and three treatment groups, each with five replicates. During group allocation, three quails were randomly placed in each cage (replicate), resulting in five replicates per treatment and a total of 15 birds in each experimental group. The control group received the basal diet only, whereas the treatment groups were fed the basal diet supplemented with 0.1%, 0.2%, and 0.4% lyophilized apilarnil, respectively. Experimental diets containing apilarnil were prepared weekly and offered ad libitum throughout the experimental period. A significant difference in live body weight was observed among the experimental groups at the 28th of the trial (p<0.05). According to Duncan's multiple range test, the live body weight of the control group was significantly higher than that of the group fed on the diet including 0.2% apilarnil (p<0.05). However, the groups receiving 0.1% and 0.4% apilarnil were similar in the live body weight. At the end of the experimental period, no significant differences were detected among the groups with respect to final live body weight (p>0.05). The findings obtained from present study related to performance and slaughter characteristics indicated that the effect of apilarnil supplementation on growth performance was transient and did not exert a persistent effect on final live body weight or slaughter characteristics.