Effects of bacterial xylanase on egg production and quality and on diet digestibility in laying quail (Coturnix coturnix japonica) fed on diets based on corn and soybean meal.

Corn and soybean meal (SBM) are high-quality feed ingredients for poultry diets. Despite the fact that such diets are low in indigestible carbohydrates, it has been suggested that the inclusion of exogenous feed enzymes to such diets could improve nutrient availability and, subsequently, improve energy digestibility. This study was carried out to determine the effects of bacterial xylanase ( Nutrase® Xyla) on egg production, feed consumption, feed conversion ratio, egg weight and egg quality of laying quail (Coturnix coturnix japonica). A total of 120 8 week old laying quail (Coturnix coturnix japonica) were divided into six groups of 20 birds each (which were, subdivided into 10 subgroups of 2 each for experimental replicates). One basal diet with a content of 22% crude protein, 2900 kcal/kg of metabolisable energy was used in the experiment. The energy levels of experimental groups were reduced as follows: Group I; 1,5 %(43,5 kcal/kg), Group II; 2% (58 kcal/kg), Group III; 2,5% (72,5 kcal/kg), Group IV; 3% (87 kcal/kg), Group V; 3,5%(101,5 kcal/kg), respectively. Moreover, 100 ppm of bacterial xylanase was supplemented to all the experimental groups. The control group received no enzymes. The experiment lasted 12 weeks. Feed and water were supplied ad libitum and artificial light was provided for 16 h per day. Significant differences among the groups were examined by one-way ANOVA followed by Tukey test. There were no statistical differences in egg production. Results of this study indicate that enzyme addition to corn-SBM-based basal diets can significantly improve energy utilisation (P<0.01).This result was supported with the findings in group IV which had a 3% decrease in energy. There were no statistical differences in terms of egg quality parameters between the groups.