Efficacy of detoxified rubber seed meal (Hevea brasiliensis) on growth performance, meat quality and carcass of Japanese Quail (Cotumix japonica)

A 4-weeks feeding trial on 60 tails aged 2-weeks quail was conducted to evaluate the effect of supplementing soybean meal with different levels of processed rubber seed meal in quail's diet on growth performance, meat quality and carcass of quail. Rubber seed was processed into rubber seed meal (RSM) before proximate composition was done prior to diet formulation. Four dietary treatment groups consist of control (0% of RSM), treatment 1(10% of RSM), treatment 2 (20% of RSM) and treatment 3 (30% of RSM) were formulated for feeding experiment in triplicates. Daily feed intake, weekly body weight gain, average daily weight gain and feed conversion ratio were recorded and calculated. 12 quails were slaughtered at day-35 for proximate analysis, meat and liver quality analysis and carcass were conducted. Results showed that nutrient composition for crude protein (CP), crude fibre (CF), fat, nitrogen free extract (NFE), ash content and metabolizable energy (ME) of RSM were 17.62%, 8.26%, 51.01%, 17.98%, 2.09% and 2.79kcal/kg, respectively. No significant differences (p>0.05) on growth performances of quail, colour values of L* (lightness), a* (redness) and b* (yellowness), Shear Force, Cooking Loss and Water Holding Capacity, breast meat quail were found among all treatments and control except on carcass yield, drumstick and wing. In conclusion, soybean meal can be replaced with 10%, 20% or 30% of rubber seed meal in quail's diet as all treatments showed no negative impact on growth performance, meat quality and carcass of quail. Further detailed research on effect of supplementing soybean meal with different level processed rubber seed meal in quail's diets is fully recommended.