An experiment was carried out to study the effect of dietary supplementation of lysine and methionine on production performance of Japanese quail layers. The experiment was for five periods of 28 days each from 7 to 26 weeks of age. Quail layer ration containing 22% CP, 2650 kcal ME per kg feed with 1.0% lysine and 0.45% methionine formed the basal diet (T1). The basal diet supplemented with 0.25% L-lysine, 0.25% DL-methionine and a combination of both at 0.25% level each, formed the diets T2, T3 and T4, respectively. The mean EW in the group T1 (11.17g) was significantly lower than that of amino acid supplemented groups (P≤0.05). The mean quail housed and quail day number and per cent production, cumulative mean egg mass per quail on quail day basis, daily feed consumption per quail and FCR per dozen eggs as well as per kg egg mass did not differ significantly among dietary groups. The cost of feed per egg was significantly lower in T1 compared to that of T4 and was intermediate in T3 and T2. Even though amino acid supplementation was beneficial to improve mean egg weight in quails reared in cages, considering the economics it is proved that the basal diet without supplementation is feasible.
Japanese laying quail, lysine, methionine, production performance
