Replacement value of hatchery waste meal for fish meal in the diet of laying Japanese quail (Coturnix coturnix japonica).
A 10 week feeding trial was carried out to evaluate the replacement value of hatchery wastes for fish meal in the diet of laying Japanese quail (Coturnix coturnix japonica). 108 female Japanese quails (36 per treatment) were randomly allocated into 3 dietary treatments A, B and C which are fish meal (FM), whole hatchery waste meal (WHWM) and shelless hatchery waste meal (SHWM) based diets respectively in a completely randomized design. The performance showed that feed intake was not significantly (p > 0.05) influenced by the diets while weight gain was (p < 0.05) influenced. Diet B (WHWM) was significantly higher (p < 0.05) in hen day production. Feed efficiency and cost per kg of feed were highest (p < 0.05) in diet A (FM). The egg quality parameters were not adversely affected by the replacement with hatchery waste. Diet B (WHWM) had the highest values for egg weight, shell thickness and % shell. The values gotten for heamatology parameters showed that RBC, PCV and Hb were reduced (p < 0.05) in WHWM while birds on FM had superior (p < 0.05) WBC and monocytes values. It was concluded that hatchery waste meal can successfully replace fish meal with an enhanced value on egg quality at a reduced cost without any adverse effect on heamatology parameters in laying Japanese quail diets.