Table 2.
Productive performance and fresh egg quality traits of Japanese quails fed different levels of VE and Selenium sources.
| Traits | Treatments 1 | SEM | p Value | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Control | VE30SS | VE30SP | VE120SS | VE120SP | Treat | Time | Treat × Time | ||
| Feed intake 2 | 32.78 | 33.05 | 32.79 | 34.13 | 31.59 | 0.53 | 0.06 | <0.01 | <0.01 |
| Feed conversion ratio 3 | 3.08 | 2.98 | 2.90 | 2.95 | 2.99 | 0.11 | 0.86 | <0.01 | 0.07 |
| Egg production 4 | 84.98 | 84.65 | 88.19 | 87.70 | 82.18 | 2.61 | 0.50 | 0.01 | 0.07 |
| Egg weight 5 | 12.62 | 13.19 | 12.82 | 13.21 | 12.85 | 0.14 | 0.05 | 0.06 | 0.57 |
| Egg mass 6 | 10.73 | 11.16 | 11.31 | 11.59 | 10.56 | 0.39 | 0.37 | <0.01 | 0.10 |
| Fresh Egg quality traits | |||||||||
| Egg specific gravity 7 | 1.07 | 1.07 | 1.07 | 1.07 | 1.07 | 0.00 | 0.95 | 0.49 | 0.66 |
| Albumen height (mm) | 4.28 b | 4.72 a | 4.56 a | 4.51 a | 4.61a | 0.07 | 0.01 | <0.01 | 0.01 |
| Albumen percentage 8 | 60.75 | 60.55 | 60.24 | 60.28 | 60.43 | 0.22 | 0.52 | <0.01 | 0.58 |
| Yolk percentage 9 | 31.59 | 31.79 | 32.01 | 32.04 | 31.83 | 0.21 | 0.58 | 0.01 | 0.49 |
| Yolk Albumen ratio 10 | 0.52 | 0.52 | 0.53 | 0.51 | 0.52 | 0.01 | 0.69 | 0.04 | 0.71 |
| Haugh unit 11 | 87.39 b | 89.44 a | 88.68 a,b | 88.07 a,b | 89.05 a | 0.46 | 0.04 | <0.01 | <0.01 |
| Eggshell percentage 12 | 7.64 | 7.65 | 7.74 | 7.67 | 7.73 | 0.10 | 0.95 | 0.49 | 0.66 |
| Eggshell thickness (mm) | 0.20 b | 0.21 a | 0.21 a | 0.21 a | 0.21 a | 0.002 | 0.02 | 0.02 | 0.41 |
| Eggshell strength (hg/cm2) | 19.22 | 19.24 | 19.46 | 19.28 | 19.43 | 0.27 | 0.95 | 0.49 | 0.66 |
| Egg surface area 13 | 51.07 c | 53.50 a,b | 52.48 b,c | 54.55 a | 52.01 b,c | 0.63 | 0.01 | 0.01 | 0.19 |
| Egg shape index 14 | 78.43 | 73.10 | 79.18 | 78.34 | 78.22 | 2.42 | 0.42 | 0.43 | 0.53 |
1 Treatments were including different levels of vitamin E (VE, 30 or 120 mg kg−1) and Se sources (SS, sodium selenite; SP, Sel-Plex); 2 gram/bird per day; 3 feed conversion ratio = feed intake/egg mass; 4 Hen-day egg production = (total number of eggs/number of live layers) × 100; 5 average egg weight = total weight of collected eggs/total number of collected eggs; 6 Egg mass = [egg production (%) × average egg weight (g)] × 100; 7 Egg specific gravity = egg weight/[0.9680 × (egg weight – Shell weight) + (0.4921 × shell weight)]; 8 Albumen percentage = (albumen weight/egg weight) ×100; 9 Yolk percentage = (yolk weight/egg weight) × 100; 10 Yolk Albumen ratio = yolk weight/albumen weight; 11 Haugh unit = 100 log [albumen height (mm)—1.7 weight of the egg (g)0.37+ 7.57]; 12 Eggshell percentage = (dried shell weight/egg weight) × 100; 13 Egg surface area (mm) = 3.9782 × egg weight (g); 14 Egg shape index = (egg width/egg length) × 100. Values (means) within a row with uncommon letters are significantly (p < 0.05) different.