Sex hormones response to feeding intensity in Japanese quail (Coturnix coturnix japonica)

Abstract

A 56 day experiment was conducted to investigate the effects of feeding intensity on sex hormones of Japanese quails (Coturnix coturnix japonica). Two hundred (200) day old Japanese quails (Coturnix coturnix japonica) of mixed sexes were weighed and randomly assigned to 4 dietary treatments with 5 replicates per treatment with 10 birds per replicate in a Completely Randomized Design (CRD). The experiment was designed such that the control treatment (T1) had 100% feeding intensity while T2, T3 and T4 had 90%, 80% and 70% feeding intensities, respectively. Feeds were fed in 2 phases (grower phase-24.59% CP, 4.24% CF, 4.01% C Fat and 2699 kcal/kg ME) from 0-3 weeks and (finisher phase-21.79% CP, 4.32% CF, 4.01% C Fat and 3353.10 kcal/kg ME) from 4-8 weeks. Birds in all treatments were fed a common diet in each phase of the experiment. Feed was restricted at both phases while water was served ad libitum. A representative male and female from each replicate were slaughtered weekly from week 6-8 and blood samples collected were used to determine sex hormone levels of the birds. A total of 120 birds (60 males and 60 females) were slaughtered at the end of the experiment. Results obtained at the end of the experiment indicated that feeding levels of 80 and 70% depressed the release of LH and FSH and the sex hormones (estrogen and testosterone) and therefore caused the delay in sexual maturity in the quail.