Nutritional evaluation of shrimp waste and its inclusion in laying diet for meat-type quails

The research aimed to evaluate the shrimp waste meal (SWM) in the diet of European quails in the production phase. A metabolism trial was performed with 96 quails of 28 days of age distributed in a completely randomized design with three treatments (reference diet and two test diets in which SWM replaced 20% and 40% of the reference diet) and four replications of eight birds. There was no difference in metabolizable energy values. In the performance trial 200 quails of 28 weeks of age were distributed in a completely randomized design with four treatments (0, 50 100 and 150 g/kg of inclusion of SWM) and five replications of ten birds. There was reduction in the nitrogen metabolization coefficient with the inclusion of 150 g/kg SWM. The feed intake, production and egg mass worsened with 150 g/kg inclusion. The inclusion of SWM at all levels reduced the values of specific gravity and Hugh units, and the level 150 g/kg promoted reduction in shell percentage and shell thickness. It was concluded that the metabolizable energy of SWM is 2,377 MJ/kg and that the inclusion of SWM in the diet of quails in production can be up to 100 g/kg.