Effect of dietary incorporation of various forms of zinc and selenium on the production performance and carcass characteristics of Japanese quails

Pandian, S.V., Karthikeyan, N., Churchil, R.R. and Ramesh, J. 2024. Effect of dietary incorporation of various forms of zinc and selenium on the production performance and carcass characteristics of Japanese quails. Indian Journal of Poultry Science, 59(3): 257–264 An experiment was conducted to explore the effect of various forms (organic, inorganic and nano) of dietary Zn and Se on production performance and carcass qualities in Japanese quails (n=288). Six diets were formulated (NRC, 1994) with Zn and Se (mg/kg), viz., control (T1; not supplemented), 25 and 0.2 (T2; inorganic), 50 and 0.4 (T3; enhanced inorganic), 25 and 0.2 (T4; organic), 12.5 and 0.1 (T5; 50% nano) and 6.25 and 0.05 (T6; 25% nano). Enhanced inorganic (T3) group was having significantly (p=0.05) lower fifth week body weight and body weight gain when compared to negative (T1) and positive control (T2). Significant (p=0.05) differences were noticed in four to six-week feed consumption, first two weeks feed conversion ratio (FCR) among the treatments. There was no significant (p=0.05) difference in livability, per cent loss of blood and dressing yield. Feeding higher level (2X) of inorganic Zn and Se (T3) and one fourth of the requirement through nano forms (T6) reduced the cost of production (COP) by Rs. 11.85and 9.26, respectively, when compared to negative control (T1). Significantly (p=0.05) higher eviscerated yield was noticed in both nano supplemented groups with respect to negative control and organic mineral groups. It can be concluded that dietary supplementation of inorganic Zn and Se at higher level (2X; T3) or one fourth of the requirement through nano (T6) sources could be of beneficial for improving the European Economic Factor (EEF) and reducing the cost of production.