Effects of thymol and isoeugenol feed supplementation on quail adult performance, egg characteristics and hatchling success.

LUNA, A.; DAMBOLENA, J. S.; ZYGADLO, J. A.; MARIN R. H.; LABAQUE, M. C.

BRITISH POULTRY SCIENCE

TAYLOR & FRANCIS LTD

Año: 2012 vol. 5 p. 631 - 639

0007-1668

1. A study was conducted to evaluate whether the feed supplementation with thymol or isoeugenolcan alter Japanese quail growth rate and final body weight, the female onset of puberty, hen-day egg production and the physical and chemical characteristics of the egg, as well as its potentialalteration of their offspring hatchability.2. From 4 to 16 weeks of age, birds from each cage (1 male: 3 females) were assigned to 1 of 3treatments that differed in the supplement added to the feed: control, thymol or isoeugenol (400mg/kg). The average ages (days) at first egg lay (FIRST), at 25% egg production (A25% EP), at50% egg production (A50% EP) and weekly and cumulative hen-day egg production (HDEP) were calculated. In addition, physical and chemical characteristics of the eggs, their fertility andhatchability were also evaluated for each group.3. Feed supplementation did not significantly affect growth rate, final body weight, egg productionparameters, fertility and physical characteristics of egg or most of the fatty acid components of theegg´s yolk.4. The group treated with isoeugenol showed an increase in the percentage of palmitoleic fatty acidcompared to the control, with thymol group showing intermediates values.5. Both thymol and isoeugenol supplemented groups reached an increased number of hatchlings of18.8 % and 11.8 %, respectively compared to their control counterparts.6. The improvement in the hatchling success of the eggs from the thymol and isoeugenolsupplemented groups without a negative impact on their performance may have important economicimplications for future breeding programs, particularly if these effects generalize from quail to other more commercially important poultry species, like chickens or turkeys.