ABSTRACT:

The research was conducted to investigate the effect of dietary supplementation of Telfairia occidentalis leaves on egg production traits and egg quality traits of Japanese quail. A total of forty eight (48) six weeks old female Japanese quail were randomly selected from an existing flock and distributed into 4 treatments (A,B,C,D) of 12 birds each in 3 replicates. The formulated basal diet contained 23%CP and 2800kcal/kg of Energy. Treatment A (basal diet and 0% antibiotic and 0% T. occidentalis as negative control), treatment B (basal diet with antibiotics, 0% T. occidentalis as positive control), treatment C (basal diet with 0.2% inclusion T. occidentalis with no antibiotic) and treatment D (basal diet with 0.4% inclusion T. occidentalis with no antibiotic). The experiment lasted for five (5) weeks. Data were obtained on egg production and egg quality traits. Data obtained were subjected to analysis of variance using SPSS package. The result revealed no significant differences (p<0.05) among the treatment means in egg production and egg quality traits even though there were numerical differences among them. It was concluded that T. occidentalis supplementation in quail diet compares favorably with antibiotics and therefore may be used as a replacement for antibiotics in Japanese quail.