The effect of feeding gamma-irradiated cottonseed meal on performance, yield serum lipid profile and liver enzymes in Japanese quails

Abstract

Introduction: This experiment was carried out to investigate the effect of feeding gamma
irradiated cottonseed meal on yield, serum lipid profile and liver enzymes in Japanese
quails.
Materials & Methods: A total of 384 Japanese quails were used in a completely
randomized design with four experimental treatments with six replications and sixteen quail
per replication for 35 days. Experimental diets included diets without gamma-ray irradiated
cottonseed meal (control treatment), replacement of 6% of dietary protein with irradiated
cottonseed meal (R1), replacement of 12% of dietary protein with irradiated cottonseed meal
(R2), replacement of 18% of dietary protein with irradiated cottonseed meal (R3). All diets
had the same energy and protein. Feed intake, weight gain, and feed conversion ratio were
calculated at the end of the experimental period (35 days). On the last day of the
experimental period, blood samples were taken from a vein of two male quail whose body
weight was close to the body weight of each replicate.
Result: The results of the effect of experimental treatments on feed intake show that there
is a statistically significant difference between treatments (p<0.05). With the increase of
irradiated meal in the diet composition, the feed consumption in quails increased
significantly (p<0.05). So that the highest amount of feed consumption belonged to the
group receiving 18% of irradiated cottonseed meal with 613.85 g, and the lowest amount of
feed consumption related to the control treatment was 591.46 g (p<0.05). The mean weight
gain in the whole rearing period was significantly different between the experimental
treatments so that the results show that the weight gain of chickens increased with increasing
the level of irradiated cottonseed meal (p<0.05). The highest weight gain belonged to the
birds fed with 18% of irradiated cottonseed meal with 217.60 g, and the lowest weight gain
belonged to the control group with 204.30 g (p<0.05).
Conclusion: Experimental treatments did not affect the concentration of cholesterol,
triglycerides, VLDL-C, HDL-C and LDL-C in serum of avian birds. Therefore, this
processing method can increase the use of cottonseed meals in poultry feed and increase the
capacity to use cottonseed to replace soybean meal.