EFFECT OF USING BEE PROPOLIS AS NATURAL SUPPLEMENT ON PRODUCTIVE AND PHYSIOLOGICAL PERFORMANCE OF JAPANESE QUAIL

Zweil, H S.; Zahran, S M; Abd El Rahman, M H; Desoky, W M; Abu Hafsa, Salma Hashim; Mokhtar, A A

doi:10.21608/epsj.2016.33248

EFFECT OF USING BEE PROPOLIS AS NATURAL SUPPLEMENT ON PRODUCTIVE AND PHYSIOLOGICAL PERFORMANCE OF JAPANESE QUAIL

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

¹ 1Dep. of Anim. and Fish Prod., Fac. of Agric. (Saba Basha), Univ. of Alexandria.

² 2Dep. of Live. Res., Arid Lands Cul. Res. Inst., City of Sci. Res. and Tech. App., New Borg El-Arab, P.O. Box 21934, Alexandria, Egypt.

10.21608/epsj.2016.33248

Abstract

This study was conducted to investigate the effect of supplementing bee propolis as a growth promoter and antioxidant material on laying performance, egg quality traits, blood parameters, antioxidant status during laying period of quails. A total number of 72 laying quails, 15-wks-old were randomly divided into four groups, 18 birds each, and each treatment replicated three times in a completely randomized design. The birds were selected on basis of more than 70 % egg production rate after two-week of observation period. Dietary treatments were as follows: control (without supplementation), bee propolis at levels of 250 and 500 mg/kg diet and ascorbic acid at level 250 mg/kg diet (as a positive control). Results showed that quails fed diets supplemented with different levels of propolis or ascorbic acid had similar body weight change, egg laying rate, egg weight and egg mass as compared to those fed the control diet throughout the experiment. Feeding quails on different levels of propolis or ascorbic acid in the diet improved feed conversion ratio, but differences were not significant compared to the control. All studied egg quality parameters were not significantly affected by different treatments. Yolk total cholesterol concentration was significantly (P≤0.05) lower for groups fed 500 mg propolis diet and this decrease reached to 3.6 % as compared to those fed the control diet, whereas, yolk total lipids were significantly (P≤0.05) decreased for groups fed ascorbic acid or different levels of propolis as compared to the control group. The decrease in yolk total lipids reached to 18.9, 23.5 and 10.2 % for the groups given 250 mg ascorbic acid, 250 and 500 mg propolis / kg diet, respectively. The studied serum constituents were significantly influenced for quails fed ascorbic acid or different levels of propolis diets. Feeding both ascorbic acid and propolis supplementation diets resulted in significantly lower total lipids, triglycerides, total cholesterol and LDL values than those fed the control diet. Malondialdehyde was significantly decreased whereas, total antioxidant capacity and glutathione peroxidase significantly increased in all treatments compared to the control. In conclusion, results indicated that propolis could effectively be added to quail ration to improve laying performance and to optimize lipid profile in egg yolk and blood and enhance the antioxidative status under summer conditions.

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