Effect of acetic acid supplementation on dressing yield and intestinal microbial count in Japanese quails

An experiment was conducted to investigate the effects of acetic acid supplementation on market weight, dressing yield and intestinal Enterobacteriaceae count in Japanese quails. A total number of 300 day-old quail chicks were equally distributed to three dietary treatments with four replicates (25 birds in each replicate) per each treatment group. i.e. 0 % glacial acetic acid in drinking water (Tl-control), 0.05% glacial acetic acid in drinking water (T2) and 0.1% glacial acetic acid in drinking water (T3). At the end of experimental period of 42 days, eight birds were selected randomly from each treatment group and slaughter weight, dressing yield and intestinal microbial count were recorded. Pre-slaughter weight of T2 and T3 were significantly (P<0.05) higher than the control group Tl. The carcass weight of T2 and T3 were significantly (P<0.05) higher than the control group Tl. Analysis of data showed significant (P<0.05) decrease in Enterobacteriaceae count in ileum, caeca and colon of two groups T2 and T3 when compared with control group Tl. The results of the study showed that a concentration of 0.05% glacial acetic acid in drinking water helps to improve the pre-slaughter weight, carcass weight of the quails and reduces the colonization of the Enterobacteriaceae in intestine. Hence the study suggests the potential use of organic acids as partial replacers of antibiotic growth promoters in poultry feeding.