Performance and egg quality of laying quail (Coturnix coturnix japonica) given Chitosan-Oligosaccharide as prebiotic Available to Purchase

Many studies have proved that feed additive enhances livestock productivity by augmenting intake, efficiency and health status of livestock. Oligosaccharide acts as a prebiotic supplement that modifies the ecosystem of intestinal microbe. The intestinal environment is more favorable to beneficial bacteria growth. The current study is investigating the influence of chitosan-oligosaccharide (COS) as a prebiotic on the performance and egg quality of laying quail. Two hundred and fifty laying quail, 12 weeks old were randomly set on five treatments and five replicates in ten birds per replicate. They were maintained according to the standard management for five weeks. The ingredients of the diet were maize, rice bran, soybean, fish meal, cooking oil, minerals, methionine and lysine, and were formulated to achieve 20% of protein content. Treatments are basal diet only (C00), basal diet+0.01% of COS (C01), basal diet+0.02% of COS (C02), basal diet+0.03% of COS (C03) and basal diet +0.04% of COS (C04). Diets and water were freely available throughout the experiment. Birds were weighed at the beginning of the experiment. Intake was weekly recorded, and egg production was daily recorded. The variables are feed intake, daily egg production, the conversion ratio of feed and egg quality includes egg weight, yolk index, albumen index, eggshell thickness and Haugh Unit (HU). Data were subjected to the Anova and the Duncan test. The experiment results proved that the inclusion of chitosan-oligosaccharide in the diet significantly improved feed intake, egg production and eggshell thickness and HU values (P<0.05) and egg weight, yolk index and albumen index were not affected significantly (P>0.05). Therefore, the addition of chitosan-oligosaccharide (COS) in the diet elevated the performance and egg quality of laying quail.