Effect of vitamin C and E on the laying performance of japanese quails during heat stress

The effects of supplementation of synthetic vitamin C, E and combination of herbal C, E on the laying performance and egg quality of Japanese quails was studied during dry hot summer conditions. Japanese quail females (100; 35 d old) divided into 5 equal groups (2 replicates of 10 birds each) were offered corn-soy-groundnut based layer ration (C) or C supplemented either with 100 mg/kg each of synthetic vit C (C_SC), vit E (C_SE) or both C and E @ 100 mg/kg (C_SCE) or herbal C and E @ 200 mg/kg (C_HCE) from 7 to 20 weeks of age. The maximum and minimum temperature during the experiment were 36°C and 24.8°C, respectively; while the relative humidity was 61.5%. The hen-day egg production, feed efficiency, shell thickness, specific growth and yolk weight increased (P<0.05) and mortality decreased with supplementation of synthetic vitamin E, synthetic vitamin C+E and herbal CE. The fertility of eggs improved with all the supplementations but better (P<0.05) response was obtained with the combination of vitamin C and E. Herbal CE supplementation had higher (P<0.05) hen-day egg production, egg weight, fertility and significantly lower FCR than synthetic vitamin C and E. The maximum cost based benefit for producing both commercial as well as fertile eggs was derived with herbal CE followed by synthetic vitamin E. The synthetic vitamin C supplement could yield the lowest cost based return. It was concluded that the supplement of vitamin C and E in the diet during heat stress alleviates the negative effects on production and reproduction in quail. Herbal CE was a better alternate for synthetic vitamin C and E.