SERUM BIOCHEMICAL INDICES OF JAPANESE QUAIL CHICKS (Coturnix coturnix japonica) FED DIETS CONTAINING RUBBER (Hevea brasiliensis) SEED MEAL BOILED AT VARYING DURATIONS

Abstract

This study evaluated the effects of feeding diets containing raw and processed rubber (Hevea brasiliensis) seed meal basal diets boiled at varying durations on the serum biochemistry profile of Japanese quail chicks. Six (6) diets were formulated in which the control diet (T1) had no rubber seed meal, T2 contained raw rubber seed meal at 20 % level while the other diets contained rubber seed meal boiled for 30, 40, 50 and 60 minutes which represents T3, T4, T5 and T6 respectively. Four hundred and fourteen (414) two weeks old unsexed Japanese quails were allocated to the six dietary treatments each having three replicates of 23 birds in a Completely Randomized Design. The experiment lasted for 4 weeks Blood samples were collected from the birds wing web vein at the 6th week of the feeding trial. Blood samples were collected from the birds through the wing web vein at the 6th week of the feeding trial. The results obtained in this study showed that all the serum biochemistry profile of birds were significantly (p<0.05) influenced by the dietary treatments except albumin, globulin, aspartate amino transferase (AST) and alanine amino transferase (ALT) which were within the normal range for healthy birds. The results suggest that raw rubber seed meal (RRSM) and rubber seed meal boiled (BRSM) at varying durations possess good dietary protein quality and can be fed to Japanese quail birds for optimal growth without adverse effect on serum biochemical profile of quails at 20 % dietary level of inclusion.