Abstract
This study was planned to evaluate the effect of distillery yeast sludge (DYS) as a protein source on growth performance, nutrient digestibility and slaughtering parameters in Japanese quail birds. For this purpose, six hundred day-old quails were randomly distributed into six dietary treatments. These dietary treatments were; G(1) (Control Group) fed a basal diet (CP 24%, ME 2900 kcal/kg) without DYS, while other dietary treatments were G(2), G(3), G(4), G(5) and G(6) fed basal diet containing DYS @ 1.5, 3.0, 4.5, 6.0 and 7.5%, respectively. It was observed that feed intake and weight gain tended to increase (P < 0.05) up to 3% DYS. Better (P < 0.05) feed conversion ratio (FCR) was observed in birds fed diet containing DYS at the level of 1.5 and 3%. Dry matter and crude protein digestibility decreased with increasing levels of DYS (P < 0.05). Cost of production per 100 g of weight gain was also less in birds fed diet containing 3% DYS. Study revealed that inclusion of distillery yeast sludge in the diet of Japanese quails up to 3% improves the growth performance and economics efficacy.