EFFECT OF SUNFLOWER SEED MEAL ON THE PERFORMANCE AND CARCASS CHARACTERISTICS OF GROWING JAPANESE-QUAIL

One hundred and sixty day-old quail were used in this experiment, for a period of 42 days, to study the effect of sunflower seed meal, conta ining 300 g kg-1 crude protein and 230 g kg-1 crude fibre, on their pe rformance and carcass characteristics. The quail were randomly allocat ed to four treatments (A, B, C and D) of 40 birds in each. Each treatm ent included two replicates of an equal number of birds. The birds wer e fed four diets, which contained (A) 0, (B) 35, (C) 50 and (D) 65 g k g-1 sunflower seed meal. Final body weight, body weight gain, daily fe ed consumption and feed conversion ratio of quail were not significant ly (P > 0.05) affected by inclusion of sunflower seed meal. Quail carc ass characteristics, as measured by carcass weight, carcass yield and liver, heart and gizzard weight, were not significantly affected (P > 0.05) by the diets. However, there were differences (P < 0.05) in carc ass fat and ash content, but not in carcass water and protein content. Thus, these results indicated that sunflower seed meal can be used at levels up to 65 g kg-1 in quail diets without any adverse effect on t heir general performance.