Effect of supplementation of dry yeast on production efficiency, nutrient digestibility and economic efficiency in Japanese quails

Japanese quail (Coturnix Coturnix japonica) has high resistance to certain diseases and its meat quality is optimum for human consumption. However, ingredients prices are increasing day by day and dry yeast supplementation can improve the production performance and reduces the cost of production. This experiment was conducted to study the effects of dry yeast on production performance and nutrient digestibility in quail birds. Four hundred and eighty, day-old Japanese quail chicks were divided into 24 experimental units including 6 treatments, 4 replicates in each and 20 quail chicks in each replicate. Six levels (0, 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4 and 0.5%) of dry yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) were used in iso-proteic (21.5%) and iso-calorie (2880 kcal/kg) diets. Results showed higher (P<0.05) weight gain and improved FCR in birds fed 0.5% dry yeast. The protein efficiency ratio was improved (P<0.05) in birds received diet having 0.5% dry yeast. Dressing percentage, breast and thigh yield revealed non-significant differences (P>0.05). Further, organs’ weight i.e. liver, kidney, spleen and bursa were not affected by dietary treatments (P>0.05). Crude protein digestibility was higher (P<0.05) in quail birds fed dry yeast than those received control diet. Economics data indicates that production cost per bird was reduced (P<0.05) with increasing dry yeast in quails’ diet. It can be concluded that the addition of dry yeast in quails diet improves production performance and economic efficiency.