Effect of Vitamin C, Red Pepper and Oak Leaves on Physiological and Productive Performance of Quail

Abstract

The current study was conducted on the animal production college of agriculture and forestryUniversity of Duhok, in order to investigate the effect of ration supplementation with vitamin C, red pepper (RP)and oak leaves (OL) on some physiological, reproductive and productive parameters of quail. Four hundred eightyquail birds (7 days) were divided into four groups with three replicates / group (40 birds/replicate, the groups weretreated from the age of 7 days till the age of 49 days as follows: T1 (control): Reread on standard ration, T2: Rereadon standard ration supplemented with vitamin C(300mg /kg ration). T3: Reread on standard ration supplementedwith red pepper crush (5g/kg ration). T4: Reread on standard ration supplemented with oak leaves crush (10g/kgration).The results of the current study revealed the following: Significant increase in live body weight (LBW) andbody weight gain (BWG) of treatment as compared with control, significant decrease in feed consumption (FC) invit. C group as compared with control, a significant improvement feed conversion ratio (FCR) in OL group ascompared with control and in RP and vit. C groups as compared with OL group, a significant decrease in carcassweight of RP group as compared with control and OL groups and in heart relative weight as compared with vit. Cgroup. Significant increase in mean egg weight, hen day (HD) % and egg mass/hen in OL group as compared withcontrol and in as compared with other treatments. Significant increase in serum total protein (TP) and globulin inOL group as compared with vit. C group and a significant decrease in serum albumin in RP group as compared withcontrol of male quail and a significant decrease in serum TP, globulin, albumin and TG in all groups as comparedwith control of female quail, a significant decrease in Cholesterol in OL group compared with control and in glucoseas compared with RP and vit. C groups. Significant improvement in Lymphocyt (L)%, Heterophil (H)% and stressindex in OL group of female quail and in L% and in H% in vit. C group of male quail significant improvement inyolk index in OL group and in shell membrane thickness in control group.