The Influence of Organic Selenium (Sel-Plex) Administered in the Feed of Laying Quails, on Production Performances and Egg Quality
Abstract
Introduction: Throughout the time, research carried out worldwide in laying poultry indicated that organic Selenium (Sel-Plex) led to the improvement of the laying performances, fedd conversion ratio, reduction of losses, enhancement of the immune system and the improvement of the egg quality indices - weight of the structural components and morphological and physical indices of egg quality.
Aims: the aim of this research was to observe and highlight the possible influence of organic Selenium (Sel-Plex) administered in the fodder of laying quails on the production performances and egg quality.
Materials and methods: the research has been carried out on 66 laying quails, assigned to 2 groups, each group consisting of 33 birds: a control group which was fed the base diet (no additives were added) and an experimental group that received organic Selenium (Sel-Plex) in a dose of 0.04%. The experimental period was 26 weeks long (from the 5th week of age until the 31st week). The laying quails were weighted individually at the beginning, at the middle and at the end of the experiment. During the experiment the following indices were monitored: body mass evolution and survival rate, laying intensity, mean egg weight and the feed consumption for an egg. In order to determine the egg quality the following parameters of the main components were determined: weight, proportion, chemical composition and the main morphological and physical indices of quality (size index, egg volume, specific weight, yolk index, egg white index, Haugh units).
Results: the use of organic Selenium (Sel-Plex) determined the increase of the mean egg weight and the main structural components, the increase of protein content of yolk, an improvement of the feed conversion ratio and of the laying intensity. Also a reduction in egg defects and the total reduction of losses could be observed.
Conclusion: The results recorded confirm the positive influence of organic Selenium on production performances in quails an egg quality. So, based on these results obtained, whe recommend the use of organic Selenium (Sel-Plex) in laying quails.
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