Effect of adding different levels of sulfate, chelate and nano zinc to diet on performance, tissue zinc reserves and meat quality of Japanese quail

This experiment was conducted to evaluate dietary supplementation of different levels of sulfate, chelate and nano sources of zinc on growth performance, tissue zinc reserves and meat quality of male growing Japanese quails. The experiment was carried out using 400 Japanese quails in a completely randomized design with 10 experimental treatments and four replicates. The experimental treatments consisted of: basal diet (control group, without zinc supplement) containing 41.25 mg/kg zinc and basal diet supplemented with different sources of zinc (sulfate, chelate and nano zinc) each at three levels of 15, 25 and 35 mg/kg of diet. Birds fed basal diet + 25 mg chelate zinc/kg of diet showed lower feed intake, higher weight gain and improved feed conversion ratio compared to the control group (P< 0.05). Zinc content in serum, liver, breast meat and tibia of birds fed basal diet + 35 mg nano zinc/kg of diet were higher than the control group (P< 0.05). Malondialdehyde levels and drip losses in meat of birds fed diets supplemented with different sources of zinc were lower than the control (P<0.05). According to the results of the current study, supplementation of corn–soybean meal-based diet of Japanese quails with 25 mg zinc chelate/kg improved growth rate and feed conversion ratio compared to the control group.