Effects of turmeric rhizome powder on growth, carcass and meat quality of Japanese quails fed sorghum-soybean-based diets

Abstract

This study was conducted with 600, seven day-old mixed Japanese quail chicks to investigate the effects of varying levels of turmeric rhizome powder (TRP) on growth parameters, carcass traits and organoleptic properties of the breast muscles. The chicks were randomly assigned to five dietary groups containing 0.00, 0.25, 0.50, 0.75 and 1.00\% TRP of sorghum-soybean based diet in a completely randomized design. Each treatment had six replicates of 20 birds each and was studied from 7 - 42 days of age. Growth performance (body weight, weight gain, feed intake, feed conversion ratio and mortality), carcass characteristics (dressed weight, dressing percent, breast and gastrointestinal weights) and organoleptic properties (colour, flavor, juiciness, texture, number of chews, remains after and overall acceptability) were measured. One-way ANOVA was used for data analysis and significant means separated using the least significant difference methods. Inclusion of TRP in the diet increased (P<0.05) all growth parameters, especially at 0.50\% inclusion without any adverse effect (P>0.05) on carcass traits. Mean scores for organoleptic evaluation of meat showed that TRP had no influence (P>0.05) quail breast muscle. This study concludes that TRP significantly improved growth without altering the carcass and organoleptic properties of breast muscle of Japanese quails. Dietary supplementation with 0.50\% TRP is thus recommended for quails fed sorghum-soybean based diet.