The Effect of Addition of Orange and Lemon Peel Essential Oils and Mixtures to Breeder Quail Rations on Performance, Egg Quality and Hatch Parameters

Abstract

The aim of this study was to determine the effects of adding orange peel (PKY), lemon peel essential oils (LKY) and PKY+LKY (respectively 300, 300, 150+150 mg/kg) to laying quail diets on performance, egg internal and external quality parameters and hatchability parameters. The eight-week trial was conducted in 20 subgroups, with 4 treatment groups and 5 replications for each treatment, and a total of 120 Japanese quails at 10 weeks of age were randomly distributed, with 6 quails (4 females, 2 males) in each subgroup. Feed intake with the addition of LKY to the diet, egg production and egg mass with the addition of PKY + LKY decreased significantly compared to the control group, and the eggshell breaking resistance with the addition of LKY and PKY + LKY increased significantly compared to the control group. However, the addition of LKY, PKY and PKY+LKY to the diet did not affect hatchability and reproduction parameters. According to these results, the addition of 300 mg/kg PKY and 300 mg/kg (150+150) PKY+LKY to breeder quail diets had an effect on the increase of eggshell qualityi, although the performance was adversely affected.