Determination of digestibility of amino acids in Japanese quails – A novel approach

The present study was designed to explore a suitable methodology for the determination of digestible amino acids in adult Japanese quails and to compare the digestibilities of amino acids of corn and soybean meal between quails and cockerels. Adult cockerels (12n) were divided into two groups of six birds each. The first group was precision fed with 50 g of soybean meal. Maize was offered to the second group of birds as per Farrell's method. The quails were divided into six groups of 10 birds each. Maize and soybean meal were fed ad libitum for 3 h duration to 3 groups each. The digestibilities of majority of the amino acids of maize (except histidine) were significantly (P< 0.05 to 0.001) higher in quails as compared to cockerels. On the contrary the apparent digestibility of histidine was significantly higher (P<0.001) in cockerels than that of quails. The apparent digestibilities of basic amino acids viz., lysine and arginine of soybean meal were significantly (P<0.05) higher in quails as compared to cockerels. On the other hand, the digestibility of histidine, cystine, threonine, phenylalanine, serine and proline was significantly higher ((P<0.001) in cockerels than quails. The results of the present study indicated that the 3h ad libitum feeding technique appeared to be a rapid, cost effective and simple method for conducting digestibility studies in Japanese quails. The findings also revealed that the practice of using digestible amino acid values generated with cockerels in quail feed formulations might not be appropriate and meaningful.