Performance and carcass values of Japanese quails (Coturnix coturnix japonica) fed processed sweet potato (Ipomea batatas) meal diets.

A six-week feeding trial was carried out to investigate the effect ofprocessing of sweet potato tuber on growth parameters and carcass values of Japanese quails. Five isonitrogenous (25%CP) diets were compounded. The control diet (A) had zero sweet potato tuber meal. The other four diets (B, C, D and E) contained sweet potato tuber. meal processed in different ways (unpeeled, peeled, unpeeled and cooked and peeled and cooked) replacing maize at 15.60% of the diet. 300 day-old Japanese quail birds (of mixed sexes) were randomly assigned the diets in a completely randomized design. Feed and water were provided ad libitum. Each diet was allocated to 60 quail chicks which were further divided into three replicates of 20 birds each. None of the indices measured (feed intake, water intake, weight gain, feed conversion ratio, feed cost/gain, protein intake, energy efficiency ratio and protein efficiency ratio) differed significantly (p>0.05) from the control. Energy intake was, however, higher (p<0.05) on the control than on the sweet potato diets. Carcass values measured showed that bled weight and plucked weight were significantly (p<0.05) heavier on the peeled and cooked sweet potato than on the unpeeled. Dressed weight and dressing % were better (p < 0.05) on the peeled and cooked than on the rest of the diets. Wing % was worse (p < 0.05) on the peeled and cooked sweet potato than on the rest of the diets while drumstick % was worse (p < 0.05) on peeled and cooked than on the control only. Results show that processed sweet potato can replace maize at 15.60% of the diet of quail chicks without adverse effect on performance or on carcass values and has a cost saving of 1.5% over the control diet.