Requirements for calcium and phosphorus available for Japanese quail of the 26 to 38 weeks of age

This experiment was conducted to evaluate different levels of calcium and phosphorus available for Japanese quail. 12 diets were used and seven replications of eight birds per replicate for a total of 672 birds, which were distributed in a completely randomized in a factorial design, three levels of calcium (2.0; 2.5 and 3.0%) and four available phosphorus (0.10; 0.17; 0.24 and 0.31%). There was significant interaction between the levels of calcium and phosphorus available for feed intake and calcium, verifying linear and quadratic effect for the levels of available phosphorus of quail fed diets containing 2.0 and 2.5% calcium, respectively, for diets containing 3.0% calcium there was no significant effect. The commercial eggs production increased linearly influenced by the level of available phosphorus diets. Increased levels of available phosphorus in the diets, provided increase the phosphorus content in the tibia of birds fed with diets containing 3.0% calcium, and linear and quadratic effect on the ash content in the tibia of birds fed diets containing 2.5 and 3.0% calcium, respectively. For the calcium content in the tibia, there was a linear increase with increasing levels of available phosphorus in the diet. The consumption of 555.4mg of calcium (2.0%) and 88.18mg available phosphorus (0.31%) bird/day, meets the requirements of Japanese quail of the 26 to 38 weeks of age.

aviculture; bone composition; egg shell quality; performance