Many requirements are necessary to meet the European Union rules to export poultry, including the amount of physiological water and water-protein ratio ( WPR ) in carcasses. Therefore, the aim of this study was to identify if strain, nutrition, and age affect the amount of collagen and fat and the WPR in cuts and verify whether the latter meets the international export standards. A total of 3,240 male chicks were housed in a completely randomized design in a 3 × 3 × 5 factorial arrangement, which included 3 nutritional densities (regular, medium, and high), 3 strains (021 Embrapa and 2 commercial strains identified as A and B), and 5 ages. Twelve broilers from each treatment (totaling 540 birds) were slaughtered at 28, 35, 42, 49, and 56 D of age to determine collagen and fat levels and WPR (through the calculation of moisture and protein percentage) in broiler breasts and legs using the near-infrared spectroscopy method. The use of feeds with different nutritional densities presented in this study has no effect on the WPR in the breast and legs of broilers slaughtered between 28 and 56 D of age. However, nutritional density influences liveweight and percentage of fat in the breast and legs. Collagen percentage in the legs decreases with increasing nutritional density. The 021 Embrapa strain cuts present a lower WPR than those of other commercial strains. However, the values found for all strains studied are within the limits of the Europe Union and Brazilian legislations. The liveweight, breast weight, leg weight, and leg fat increases linearly with age. Quite the opposite, water protein ratio, breast fat level, and breast collagen level decrease linearly with age. Leg WPR and leg collagen level are not affected by age. Despite the differences found for strains, nutritional densities and age readers should be aware that these factors may interact with each other depending on the response variable studied.

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This study aimed to evaluate the use of acidulated soybean soapstock in association with lecithin on productive performance, metabolic effi ciency in the utilization of nutrientes, and the egg quality of Japanese quails. A total of 192 quails were used, distributed randomly in a 2×2×2 factorial scheme that included two types of oils, two levels of supplementation (4% and 8%) and two levels of lecithin (1% or 0%). At the end of the six-month experimental period, some double signifi cant interactions were shown between the level of oil and lecithin for the performance variables (egg weight p=0.04, feed intake p<0.01 and feed conversion rate p=0.04). The feed conversion rate also was infl uenced by a double signifi cant interaction between the type of oil and the level of oil (p<0.01). The nutrient digestibility showed that different interactions affected the results. The evaluation of egg quality, was verifi ed that the use of acidulated soybean soapstock did not affect most variables of internal quality. The results showed that it is possible to use 8% acidulated soybean soapstock in combination with 1% lecithin in the diets of Japanese quails for a period of up to six months without a reduction in performance.

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