Apparent Nutrient Digestibility of Growing Japanese Quail Birds (Coturnix coturnix japonica) Fed Diets Containing Graded Level of Ginger (Zingiber officinale) WSte Meal

Abstract

The experiment was carried out to investigate the effect of graded levels of ginger (Zingiber officinale) waste meal on the nutrients digestibility of Japanese quails (Coturnix coturnix japanica). The experiment lasted for four (4) weeks and a total of two hundred and eighty-eight (288) Japanese quails of two (2) weeks old of mixed sexes were used. The birds were randomly allocated into four (4) dietary treatments with four replicates. T1: (Diet contained 0% ginger waste meal), T2: (Diet contained 35% ginger waste meal), T3: (Diet contained 40% ginger waste meal and T4: (Diet contained 45% ginger waste meal). The parameters measured during the experiments were daily feed intake and daily feaces voided. All data were subjected to one-way analyses of variance (ANOVA) using SPSS and where differences occurred, Duncan Multiple Range Test was used to separate the means. The results showed that there were significant (P<0.05) differences in all parameters measured. It was observed that the birds on 35% replacement level of ginger waste meal had the highest digestibility value for crude protein, crude fibre, ash, ether extract and Nitrogen free extract than other treatments. In conclusion, ginger waste meal could be used to replace maize up to 35% in the diets of growing Japanese quails without any negative effect on apparent nutrient digestibility