Beak trimming in japanese quails at initial phase is an alternative to reduce the negative effects of feather pecking

Regarding the lack of standardized methods for beak trimming to reduce feather pecking in Japanese quail, the present study aimed to compare two ages and 3 methods of beak trimming, evaluating the performance, egg quality and feather pecking. One-day-old Japanese quails (n = 770; 22 birds cage^-1), at the initial phase, and 36-day-old (n = 630; 18 birds cage^-1), at the production phase, were assigned to a completely randomized design, consisting of 7 treatments with 5 replicates. The treatments were: non-trimmed (NT), cauterization of approximately 1/3 at 14 days-of-age (CAUT 14) and at 28 days-of-age (CAUT 28), moderately trimmed to approximately 1/3 beak at 14 days-of-age (MOD 14) and at 28 days-of-age (MOD 28), severely trimmed to 1/3-1/2 beak at 14 days-of-age (SEV 14) and at 28 days-of-age (SEV 28). Data were analyzed using Minitab^®. The results indicated that beak trimming methods applied did not influence the performance and egg quality. Quails subjected to MOD 28 and SEV (14 and 28) presented lower feed conversion per egg mass compared to NT. However, MOD 14 and SEV were more efficient in preventing feather pecking behavior.

Keywords:
Coturnix coturnix japonica; feather pecking; welfare; egg quality

Authorship

Jéssica Moraes Cruvinel

Departamento de Produção Animal e Medicina Veterinária Preventiva, Faculdade de Medicina Veterinária e Zootecnia, Universidade Estadual Paulista ‘Júlio de Mesquita Filho’, Rua Prof. Doutor Walter Mauricio Correa, s/n, 18618-681, Botucatu, São Paulo, Brazil. Universidade Estadual Paulista ‘Júlio de Mesquita Filho’BrazilBotucatu, São Paulo, BrazilDepartamento de Produção Animal e Medicina Veterinária Preventiva, Faculdade de Medicina Veterinária e Zootecnia, Universidade Estadual Paulista ‘Júlio de Mesquita Filho’, Rua Prof. Doutor Walter Mauricio Correa, s/n, 18618-681, Botucatu, São Paulo, Brazil.

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1641-2208

Andressa Takahara Montenegro

Caio Cesar dos Ouros

Kauan de Souza Alves

Gabriela Costa Ribeiro

Tatiane Souza dos Santos

Departamento de Melhoramento e Nutrição Animal, Faculdade de Medicina Veterinária e Zootecnia, Universidade Estadual Paulista ‘Júlio de Mesquita Filho’, Botucatu, São Paulo, Brazil.Universidade Estadual Paulista ‘Júlio de Mesquita Filho’BrazilBotucatu, São Paulo, BrazilDepartamento de Melhoramento e Nutrição Animal, Faculdade de Medicina Veterinária e Zootecnia, Universidade Estadual Paulista ‘Júlio de Mesquita Filho’, Botucatu, São Paulo, Brazil.

Andrea de Britto Molino

Edivaldo Antônio Garcia

* Author for correpondence. E-mail: jessicacruvinel@gmail.com

SCIMAGO INSTITUTIONS RANKINGS

Tables

Tables (6)

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Table 1
Beak length of Japanese quail submitted to experimental treatments.

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Table 2
Performance of Japanese quails at 14 and 28 days and three days after beak trimming.

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Table 3
Performance of Japanese quails submitted to experimental treatments in the period of 1-35 days.

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Table 4
Performance of Japanese quails submitted to experimental treatments during the production phase (day 36 -37wk).

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Table 5
Eggs quality of Japanese quail submitted to experimental treatments.

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Table 6
Length of beak, frequency of feather pecking and feather pecking area in Japanese quail submitted to experimental treatments.

Table 1 Beak length of Japanese quail submitted to experimental treatments.

Treatments	14 days			28 days
Treatments	Before	After	% beak removed	Before	After	% beak removed
NT	6.35	6.35	0	7.43	7.43	0
CAUT 14	6.40	4.20	34.40	-	-	-
CAUT 28	-	-	-	7.94	4.92	38.00
MOD 14	6.28	3.72	40.80	-	-	-
MOD 28	-	-	-	8.02	4.91	38.80
SEV 14	6.36	3.01	52.70	-	-	-
SEV 28	-	-	-	7.94	4.37	44.96

*Beak trimming was performed using a Lyon^® debeaker. NT: not trimmed; CAUT 14: cauterization of approximately 1/3 at 14 days; CAUT 28: cauterization of approximately 1/3 at 28 days; MOD 14: moderately trimmed with approximately 1/3 of the beak at 14 days; MOD 28: moderately trimmed with approximately 1/3 of the beak at 28 days; SEV 14: severely trimmed with approximately 1/3-1/2 of the beak at 14 days; SEV 28: severely trimmed with approximately 1/3-1/2 of the beak at 28 days.

Table 2 Performance of Japanese quails at 14 and 28 days and three days after beak trimming.

14-17 days period
Treatment	W 14	W 17	FI (14-17)	WG (14-17)	VIAB (14-17)
NT	48.18	61.45	11.49	13.27	100
CAUT 14	48.35	60.73	11.15	12.38	98
MOD 14	49.34	59.72	10.10	10.38	99
SEV 14	48.94	60.05	11.61	11.11	100
SEM	0.210	0.566	0.299	0.551	0.547
p value	0.226	0.743	0.282	0.248	0.547
28-31 days period
Treatment	W 28	W 31	FI (28-31)	WG (28-31)	VIAB (28-31)
NT	102.00	109.44	16.27	7.44	100
CAUT 28	102.10	108.50	14.88	6.40	100
MOD 28	103.75	110.75	16.10	7.00	99
SEV 28	101.75	108.44	15.42	6.69	100
SEM	0.402	0.439	0.214	0.542	0.250
p value	0.592	0.213	0.065	0.931	0.418

NT: not trimmed; CAUT 14: cauterization of approximately 1/3 at 14 days; CAUT 28: cauterization of approximately 1/3 at 28 days; MOD 14: moderately trimmed with approximately 1/3 of the beak at 14 days; MOD 28: moderately trimmed with approximately 1/3 of the beak at 28 days; SEV 14: severely trimmed with approximately 1/3-1/2 of the beak at 14 days; SEV 28: severely trimmed with approximately 1/3-1/2 of the beak at 28 days. W14: weight before beak trimming (g), W17: weight three days after beak trimming (g), WG: weight gain (g), FI: Feed intake (g bird^-1 day^-1), VIAB: viability (%). SEM: standard error of the means. n=5 replicate cages per treatment group (22 quails cage^-1).

Table 3 Performance of Japanese quails submitted to experimental treatments in the period of 1-35 days.

Treatment	WG (g)	FI (g birds^-1)	FCR	VIAB (%)
ND	122.25	526.36	4.30	100.00
CAUT 14	120.71	512.82	4.25	95.00
CAUT 28	119.65	519.08	4.34	99.00
MOD14	119.21	523.66	4.40	97.00
MOD28	120.75	523.83	4.34	99.00
SEV 14	120.88	520.91	4.31	97.00
SEV 28	120.35	519.96	4.32	99.00
SEM	0.430	1.46	0.018	0.655
p value	0.655	0.204	0.524	0.445

NT: not trimmed; CAUT 14: cauterization of approximately 1/3 at 14 days; CAUT 28: cauterization of approximately 1/3 at 28 days; MOD 14: moderately trimmed with approximately 1/3 of the beak at 14 days; MOD 28: moderately trimmed with approximately 1/3 of the beak at 28 days; SEV 14: severely trimmed with approximately 1/3-1/2 of the beak at 14 days; SEV 28: severely trimmed with approximately 1/3-1/2 of the beak at 28 days. WC: body weight (g), FI: Feed intake (g birds^-1), FC: Feed conversion ratio (g g^-1) e VIAB: viability (%). SEM: standard error of the means. n =5 replicate cages per treatment group (22 quails cage^-1).

Table 4 Performance of Japanese quails submitted to experimental treatments during the production phase (day 36 -37wk).

Treatments	FI (g bird^-1 day^-1)	EP (%)	EW (g)	EM (g bird^-1 day^-1)	FCR dz^-1	FCR g^-1	IE (%)	VIAB (%)
NT	27.08	89.06	10.80	9.62	0.365 a	2.81 a	99.74	91.11 b
CAUT 14	26.15	88.55	10.83	9.59	0.354 ab	2.73 ab	99.77	94.44 ab
CAUT 28	26.97	89.98	10.81	9.73	0.360 ab	2.77 ab	99.86	92.22 ab
MOD14	26.67	88.20	10.82	9.54	0.363 a	2.80 ab	99.86	93.33 ab
MOD28	26.24	89.39	10.96	9.80	0.352 ab	2.68 b	99.88	93.33 ab
SEV 14	25.83	89.74	10.75	9.65	0.345 b	2.68 b	99.85	96.66 ab
SEV 28	25.93	88.28	10.73	9.47	0.352 ab	2.74 ab	99.83	98.89 a
SEM	0.125	0.219	0.050	0.035	0.016	0.013	0.018	0.701
p value	0.063	0.128	0.161	0.206	0.040	0.012	0.128	0.033

^a,b means followed by different letters in the same column are statistically different by the test of Tukey (p < 0.05). NT: not trimmed; CAUT 14: cauterization of approximately 1/3 at 14 days; CAUT 28: cauterization of approximately 1/3 at 28 days; MOD 14: moderately trimmed with approximately 1/3 of the beak at 14 days; MOD 28: moderately trimmed with approximately 1/3 of the beak at 28 days; SEV 14: severely trimmed with approximately 1/3-1/2 of the beak at 14 days; SEV 28: severely trimmed with approximately 1/3-1/2 of the beak at 28 days. FI: Feed intake, EP: egg production percentage, EW: egg weight, EM: egg mass, FC dz^-1: Feed conversion ratio per dozen of eggs, FC g^-1: Feed conversion ratio per egg mass, IE: percentage of intact eggs, VIAB: viability. SEM: standard error of the means. n=5 replicate cages per treatment group (18 quails cage^-1).

Table 5 Eggs quality of Japanese quail submitted to experimental treatments.

Treatments	ESG	STRENGTH	YOLK	ALB	ES	EST	ESWAS
(g cm^-3)	(g kgf^-1)	(%)	(%)	(%)	(mm)	(mg cm^-2)
NT	1.076	1,362.53	30.11	61.90	7.99	0.218	40.69
CAUT 14	1.074	1,272.23	30.19	62.05	7.76	0.214	39.89
CAUT 28	1.077	1,336.90	30.53	61.56	7.91	0.212	40.42
MOD14	1.076	1,260.65	30.29	61.98	7.73	0.213	39.79
MOD28	1.076	1,319.83	30.70	61.50	7.80	0.216	40.03
SEV 14	1.078	1,366.65	30.13	61.83	8.04	0.220	40.97
SEV 28	1.078	1,373.35	30.72	61.24	8.04	0.218	41.07
SEM	0.0038	15.59	0.131	0.134	0.045	0.0010	0.224
p value	0.0600	0.2937	0.7842	0.6766	0.3028	0.3052	0.6294

NT: not trimmed; CAUT 14: cauterization of approximately 1/3 at 14 days; CAUT 28: cauterization of approximately 1/3 at 28 days; MOD 14: moderately trimmed with approximately 1/3 of the beak at 14 days; MOD 28: moderately trimmed with approximately 1/3 of the beak at 28 days; SEV 14: severely trimmed with approximately 1/3-1/2 of the beak at 14 days; SEV 28: severely trimmed with approximately 1/3-1/2 of the beak at 28 days. ESG: specific gravity, STRENGTH: eggshell breaking strength, YOLK: percentage of yolk, ALB: percentage of albumen, ES: percentage of eggshell, EST: eggshell thickness, ESWAS: eggshell weight per area surface. SEM: standard error of the means. n = 5 replicate cages per treatment group (18 quails cage^-1).

Table 6 Length of beak, frequency of feather pecking and feather pecking area in Japanese quail submitted to experimental treatments.

Length of beak (mm) and feather pecking (%)
Treatments	At 35 days	At 37 weeks	Growth (mm)	Feather pecking (%)*	Feather pecking area (cm²)

NT	8.54 a	8.90 a	0.36	29.11a	11.71 a
CAUT 14	3.57 c	4.54 de	0.97	0.00 c	0.00 b
CAUT 28	5.34 b	6.52 b	1.18	14.67 b	6.31 ab
MOD 14	3.69 c	4.98 d	1.29	0.00 c	0.00 b
MOD 28	5.15 b	6.40 b	1.25	25.30 ab	5.28 ab
SEV 14	3.10 c	4.00 e	0.90	2.33 c	1.30 b
SEV 28	4.79 b	5.64 c	0.85	3.53 c	3.30 b
SEM	0.298	0.208	0.231	5.489	1.542
p value	0.001	0.001	0.114	< 0.001	0.001

^a,b,c,d,e means followed by different letters in the same column are statistically different by the test of Tukey (p < 0.05). *Frequencies followed by different letters in the column differ from each other by the chi-square test (p < 0.05). NT: not trimmed; CAUT 14: cauterization of approximately 1/3 at 14 days; CAUT 28: cauterization of approximately 1/3 at 28 days; MOD 14: moderately trimmed with approximately 1/3 of the beak at 14 days; MOD 28: moderately trimmed with approximately 1/3 of the beak at 28 days; SEV 14: severely trimmed with approximately 1/3-1/2 of the beak at 14 days; SEV 28: severely trimmed with approximately 1/3-1/2 of the beak at 28 days. SEM: standard error of the means. n=5 replicate cages per treatment group (18 quails cage^-1).

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Beak trimming in japanese quails at initial phase is an alternative to reduce the negative effects of feather pecking

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[1] * Author for correpondence. E-mail: jessicacruvinel@gmail.com