A study of different dietary energy and protein levels in European quail (Coturnix coturnix) during the grower phase and their effect on productive performance

• Othman Najh Hijab1 Maad A.K. Albaddy2

  Author

This study was conducted in one of the research halls of the Department of Animal Production, College of Agriculture, University of Tikrit, from 19 January to 2 March 2025, to evaluate the effects of different dietary energy and crude protein levels on the productive performance of European quail (Coturnix coturnix) during the rearing period from 21 days of age, equivalent to 3 weeks, up to 8 weeks of age. A total of 208 unsexed chicks were randomly distributed into four dietary treatments, with four replicates per treatment and 13 chicks per replicate. The experimental diets were as follows: T1, 2900 kcal metabolizable energy/kg diet with 24% crude protein; T2, 2800 kcal/kg with 22% crude protein; T3, 2900 kcal/kg with 22% crude protein; and T4, 2800 kcal/kg with 24% crude protein.

The results showed significant differences among treatments in total energy and protein intake during the overall experimental period. The highest total protein intake was recorded in T4 (349.89 g), followed by T1 (331.50 g), whereas T2 and T3 recorded the lowest values and did not differ significantly from each other. However, overall energy conversion efficiency did not differ significantly among treatments, indicating that increased energy intake was not associated with improved energy utilization. In contrast, overall protein conversion efficiency differed significantly among treatments, with T2 and T3 showing better efficiency than T1 and T4. This suggests that diets containing 22% crude protein allowed more efficient protein utilization than diets containing 24% crude protein.

It can be concluded that feeding European quail diets containing 22% crude protein with 2800–2900 kcal/kg metabolizable energy may improve protein conversion efficiency during the rearing period without reducing overall performance.

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