Abstract
The objective of the present study was to evaluate a blend of functional oils (FO) composed of copaiba and garlic essential oils, pepper oleoresin and cashew nut liquid to mitigate the effects of heat stress on productivity, egg quality, organ morphology of the gastrointestinal tract, serum biochemical profile, nutrient metabolism and body temperature of Japanese quail. A completely randomized design was used in a 3 × 2 factorial scheme (without additive; 300 and 500 mg FO/kg of feed x birds raised in a thermal comfort (TC) and heat stress (HS) environment), with 6 replicates of 8 birds per plot. The birds under HS had lower feed intake (P = 0.0000), egg mass (P = 0.0000), laying rate (P = 0.0000) and higher percentage of infertile non-commercial eggs (P = 0.0004), lower head temperature amplitude (P = 0.0000) and higher average of body temperature (P = 0.0312). HS worsened the external and internal quality of the eggs. Birds kept in HS showed higher values of cholesterol (P = 0.0000) and glutamic-pyruvic transaminase (P = 0.0272). The use of 300 and 500 g FO/ton of feed improved the feed conversion (P = 0.0000) and egg mass (P = 0.0000) of the quail bred under HS, respectively, by 8.4 and 7.2% and increased the relative weight of liver (P = 0.0064) and pancreas (P = 0.0492). The use of such additives also provided a higher % of yolk (P = 0.0018) and reduced the percentage of albumen (P = 0.0029) of the eggs produced in TC, in addition to reducing the amplitude of head temperature (P = 0.0484) of birds bred under HS. The breeding of Japanese quail under HS results in negative impacts on the production, physiological and qualitative aspects of the eggs. The use of 300 g/ton of FO in the diet of Japanese quail leads to improvements in feed conversion, increased liver capacity in nutritional metabolism and results in eggs with a higher proportion of yolks, being, therefore, an alternative for feeding quail in a hot climate.