The values of the apparent metabolizable energy (AME), the apparent metabolizable energy corrected for nitrogen retention (AMEn), and the apparent metabolization coefficient of crude energy (AMCCE) were determined in corn, sorghum, soybean meal, corn gluten meal, and refined soybean oil. Two-hundred and forty six-day-old female Japanese quails (Coturnix japonica) were used in a completely randomized design, with five replicates and eight quails per experimental unit. The treatments consisted of six experimental diets and one reference diet. Each experimental diet was constituted, as fed basis, for 70% of the reference ration and 30% of food that would be tested, except the ration that contained refined soybean oil that was tested, as fed basis, with 10% of addition and 90% of the reference ration. The biological assay was carried out in wired floor cages distributed in iron batteries. The respective values of AME, AMEn (kcal/kg of natural matter basis), and AMCCE (%) of ground corn, sorghum, soybean meal, corn gluten meal, and refined soybean oil were respectively: 3,572, 3,612kcal/kg, and 92.6%; 3,108, 3,149kcal/kg, and 80.9%; 2,633, 2,676kcal/kg, and 65.3%; 4,043, 4,096kcal/kg, and 75.0%; and 9,335, 9,379kcal/kg, and 98.8%. The values of AME described for other birds species were different from those obtained in this study and are not recommended to be used in ration composition for Japanese quails.
Japanese quail; digestibility assay; alternative food
