Theme: Substitution of Fish Meal by Pigeon Pea (Cajanus cajn) Flour and Moringa Oleifera Leaves (Moringa oleifera) in Quail Feed: Effects on Zootechnical and Sanitary Performances

In order to develop a diet adapted to the success of quail breeding in the tropical areas, a study for the substitution of fish meal by vegetable protein sources (Moringa oleifera and Cajanus cajn) was conducted. The objective of this study is to improve zootechnical and sanitary performance of quail breed in captivity. Five hundred and forty coturnix japonica (one-day-old), were used in this study during 42 days. Birds were divided into three groups of 180 young quail. The first group was feed with a diet contain fish flour (Alt), the second feed diet including cajanus cajan flour (Alc) and the last group feed diet with moringa flour (Alm). Each group was reparted into three randomized batches of 60 birds, three (3) repetitions per diet was used. Live weights at 42 days were 155.505 ? 11.31 g for control animals (Alt), 151.72 ? 13.53 g for those feed the diet Alc and 165.544 ? 10.58 g for subjects feed with the Alm diet. The feed intake (FI) of the quail diet ranged from 10.62 ? 0.32 to 22.44 ? 0.37 g / day / quail, compared to 8.61 ? 0.29 to 19.3 ? 0.32 g / day / quail for quails feed at the Alc diet and 12.11 ? 0.27 at 21.46 ? 0.34 g / day / quail for those feed the moringa diet. Alt animals showed a mean daily gain of 3.88 ? 1.186 g / day, compared with 3.27 ? 1.035 g / day for the Alc diet and 4.569 ? 1.594 g / day for the Alm diet. During this experiment Alt-feed quail recorded the highest consumption indices (CI). These indices range from 2.5 ? 0.08 to 5.8 ? 0.08, from start (1 to 14 days) to finish (42 days of age). The quail of the cajanus group ranged from 2.5 ? 0.41 to 5.9 ? 0.12. The moringa quail CI were predominantly significantly (p less than 0.05) lower than other two groups and ranged from 2.2 ? 0.2 to 4.7 ? 0.2. The health risk index of the animals feed with control diet was 27 while those of the Alc and Alm diets were respectively 24 and 38. This study showed that moringa and pigeon pea can substitute validly the fish meal in the quail ration. However, pigeon pea must be treated to eliminate antinutrients and make it more edible for quail. This could lead to greater production of these protein-quality plants in C?te d'Ivoire.