Suplementação de colina em dietas para codornas de corte (Coturnix coturnix coturnix)

Abstract

The nutritional requirements manuals for quails are based on studies with Japanese quails, and there are few publications that investigate the vitamin requirements for European qualis. Aiming to evaluate the effects of choline supplementation on meat quails, two experiments were performed. In the first one, 480 seven-day-old quails of both sexes with an average weight of 43 ± 0.22 g were distributed in a completely randomised design with six treatments and five replicates of 16 birds. In the second experiment, 540 one-day-old quails of both sexes with an average weight of 8 ± 0.33 g were distributed in a completely randomised experimental design with six treatments and five replicates with 18 birds each. In both experiments, the treatments consisted of diets containing 0, 0.025, 0.050, 0.075, 0.100 and 0.125% choline chloride, corresponding to 0, 150, 300, 450, 600 and 750 mg/kg of supplemented choline, respectively. The experimental diets were calculated to be isoenergetic and isonutritive, with the exception of choline levels. At the end of the experimental period (quails of 42 days of age), the following parameters were evaluated: feed intake, weight gain, feed conversion, carcass, breast, drumstick + thigh yields, proportion of abdominal fat, liver fat and liver composition. Data were submitted to regression analysis. In both experiments, there was no significant effect of choline supplementation on performance variables, carcass characteristics and liver composition. However, in the comparison between the sexes there was significant difference in the carcass yield, breast yield in experiment 1, in the relative weight of the liver in both experiments, and amount of fat in the liver only in experiment 1. Thus, it is concluded that when the amount of choline supplied by the feed ingredients is 1,546 mg choline/kg diet, supplementation of this vitamin is not necessary.