Effect of Propolis Supplementation on Productive Performance in Local Quail

Abstract

This experiment was carried out at the College of Agriculture University of Salahaddin Erbil. To study the effect of water supplementation with propolis on local quail performance, some physiological and immunological characteristics at 42 days old. A total of one thousand fifty (1050) hatched local quail eggs that obtained from the project of Al-Rashedia for Agriculture Researches Center in Mousl governorate, were placed in the hatcheries machine, after 17 days the chicks were hatched. A total of four hundred fifty (450)unsexed day old quail chicks were randomly allocated into five treatment groups. Chicks in each treatment group (90 chicks) were subdivided into three replications (30 chicks for each). The five dietary treatment groups were as follows: T1) control, T2) (100 mg propolis/L water), T3) (200 mg propolis/L water), T4) (300 mg propolis/L water) and T5) (400 mg propolis/L water). Live body weight, body weight gain, feed consumption, feed conversion ratio; mortality percentage and daily egg production were recorded. At the end of the experiment, all chicks were slaughtered and production index (PI), dressing percentage and carcass cuts percentage were measured.The overall data shows the following results: water supplementation with different levels of propolis significantly (P<0.05) increased the live body weight, carcass weight, thigh %, back % and wing % compared to control group, level (3) 300 mg propolis/L water is better treatment for productive performance than other.