Abstract
Poultry production is considered one of the prospective opportunities to accomplish sustainable and quick production of superior protein to challenge the growing mandate for animal protein. Therefore, this study was aimed to explore the difference on growth performance, carcass traits, meat quality and amino acid profile of different Japanese quails strains. A total of 480 quail chicks of four different plumage colors (120 of each white, golden, gray and brown) were collected after hatching. At 6 week of age, birds were stunned and decapitated to determine the physical meat quality, thiobarbituric acid reactive substances and amino acid profile. White quails had the highest weight of slaughter, carcass, dressing, carcass yield, liver, gizzard, heart and spleen (197.27 g, 169.27 g, 91%, 82%, 6.63 g, 6.53 g, 2.27 g and 0.40 g, respectively). Also, they had the highest Ph(U), lightness, yellowness and water holding capacity with the lowest level of redness, cooking losses and thiobarbituric acid in pectoral (6.28, 46.40, 12,46, 22.17, 9.20, 19.21 and 0.44, respectively) and thigh muscles (6.37, 42.30, 11.51, 26.01, 10.12 and 0.93, respectively). Moreover, they possessed the highest level of all essential (11.68 and 10.16 g/100 g protein in pectoral and thigh muscles, respectively) and non essential amino acids (13.27 and 12.54 g/100 g protein in pectoral and thigh muscles, respectively). Therefore, the current study revealed that white quails had the heaviest body weight with the best carcass traits and meat quality.