Desempenho zootécnico de codornas europeias (Coturnix coturnix) alimentadas com farinha de folha de moringa (moringa oleifera)

Abstract

Brazil stands out in the poultry sector due to the techniques of nutrition, high genetic standard, associated to sanity and management, allowing high zootechnical indexes. Coturniculture has shown itself to be a promising segment of poultry farming, which has an advantage in relation to the creation of other poultry due to the lower investment in the implantation of the production system. In recent years, the use of functional plants in feed has been widely researched in an attempt to reduce costs, especially with food, which represents about 70% of production costs. Moringa (Moringa oleifera) is a plant of easy adaptability in diverse climatic conditions, with high protein content, that contains substances that improve the immune system. Thus, this plant may be a potential partial substitute for the main grains used in bird feed, which in turn undergo seasonal price variations. The objective of this work was to evaluate the effect of inclusion of the moringa leaves meal (FFMO) in the partial substitution feed on the European quail feed (Coturnix coturnix), considering the zootechnical performance in two stages of growth . Twenty one day old quails, distributed in a completely randomized design, with 05 treatments and 06 replicates of 12 birds each were used. The treatments consisted of control ration and 04 inclusion levels (1.0, 2.0, 3.0 and 4.0%) of the FFMO protein in partial substitution to corn and soybean meal. The zootechnical performance was calculated by means of mortality, feed intake, live weight, feed conversion and food efficiency index in the period from 1 to 21 days, from 22 to 42 and from 1 to 42 per experimental unit. The results were submitted to analysis of variance by polynomial regression, considering 0.05% as significant for quadratic or linear equations. In relation to live weight, a decreasing linear effect was observed as there was an increase in FFMO inclusion levels in the diet at the initial stage (1 to 21 days of age of the birds), and quadratic effect in the growth phase (22 - 42 days) of the birds. There was no significant effect on feed intake in the two phases of the experiment. The feed conversion and feed efficiency index had a linear and quadratic effect, respectively, in both phases of bird growth, corroborating with live weight results obtained in each phase. The environmental temperature and relative humidity of the air recorded during the experimental phase may have influenced the deaths that occurred in all treatments, not providing thermal comfort to the birds. On the other hand, antinutritional elements present in FFMO may have exerted influence on live weight, more specifically in the young phase, since birds do not yet have a fully developed digestive system. FFMO can be used in European quails rations, preferably in the second growth phase (22 to 42 days of age) up to the 3.0% inclusion level, without influencing the consumption and weight gain of the birds