Effect of Pawpaw Leaf Meal on Laying Performance and Egg Quality of Japanese Quails

Background and Objective: The problem of feed shortages caused by rising costs of conventional feed ingredients has affected animal protein supply. A possible solution to this problem could be increased use of cheaper alternative feed ingredients, such as leaf meals. The study evaluated the effect of Pawpaw Leaf Meal on laying performance and egg quality of Japanese quail eggs. Materials and Methods: A total of 120 quail hens were allotted to five dietary treatments with three replicates of 8 birds each in a Completely Randomized Design. Five experimental diets were formulated in which diet 1 served as control (0% PLM) while diets 2, 3, 4 and 5 contained 5%, 10%, 15% and 20% Pawpaw Leaf Meal respectively. Water and feed were offered ad-libitum. Data collected were subjected to analysis of variance using general linear model of SAS. Results: Results showed that laying performance parameters were all significantly (p<0.05) better in birds fed 5% PLM based diet and were comparable to the control group. Internal egg quality traits differed significantly (p<0.05) across treatment groups except for egg shape index and yolk percentage. Eggs from birds on 5% PLM based diet had higher egg weight, egg length, egg width, egg shell weight, albumen length, albumen diameter, albumen weight, yolk height, yolk diameter, yolk weight, albumen index and shell percentage that were comparable to the control group. Conclusion: It was concluded that inclusion of PLM at 5% level helps improve laying performance of Japanese quails.