Production indicators, quality and conservation of quail egg (coturnix coturnix japónica) under amazon conditions

Abstract

In the Ecuadorian Amazon, the production of quail eggs is considered a profitable and interesting business for economic and food support. Quail breeding and research related to productive behavior, conservation and quality of its meat and egg by-products is a new field of knowledge in these edaphoclimatic conditions, so the objective of this research is to explore the behavior of quail. productive indicators, quality and conservation in the laying stage The research was carried out in the Santa Clara Canton at the experimental station of the Amazonian State University, which is located at an altitude between 580-990 meters above sea level, with annual rainfall of 4000mm and temperatures that range between 25-34 °C. For its development, hygienic-sanitary and feeding conditions were created for breeding. 72 5-week-old female quails were used and 18 quails were distributed per cage. These were fed taking into account the nutritional requirements, so the Bioalimentar quail concentrate was used. The experiment began at 10 weeks with quails weighing 110 g, whose weight, laying percentage, egg mass, percentage of broken and healthy eggs, feed consumption, feed rejection and feed conversion were measured weekly. Quality indicators were measured in 10% of the eggs per cage (24 weekly), selected at random. From week 16, the process of preserving the eggs began, the quality of which was measured at different conservation times (0, 5, 10, 15, 20), at a rate of 20 eggs per day. conservation. The indices evaluated were: shape index, shell thickness, shell, yolk and Haugh units. The data were processed by the SPSS version 21 statistical package and an ANOVA was applied and the differences in the means were corroborated with the Tukey test. The productive indicators did not present significant differences between the weeks evaluated, but there were significant differences for p<0.05 between cages. Feed conversion was acceptable (2.2 to 2.68); the percentage to 65 and 67% respectively. The shape index throughout the experiment indicated that the eggs were elliptical in shape, with very good Haugh units. With respect to conservation, significant differences could be seen for p˂0.05 in all indicators, these decreased as the conservation time increased, however, the Haug units still express a very good to excellent quality (75-95). The Japonica quail adapts well to Amazonian conditions, taking into account that there is a positive response in production as well as egg quality and its conservation.