The objective of this study was to determine the response to partial substitution of Moringa oleifera seed meal (MOSM) instead of soybean meal on Japanese quail laying performance; egg production, egg quality, some plasma constituents and reproductive performance. A total of 180 quails with 45 birds per treatment, each had 3 replicates (10 hens and 5 cocks each) of 9 week-old were randomly allocated to 4 dietary treatments as follows: non (control), 5, 7.5 and 10% MOSM of the diet. Quail laying performance was monitored over a period of 12 wks. Results obtained can be summarized as follows: The inclusion of 7.5 and 10 % MOSM significantly (P≤0.05) had higher feed consumption for the overall period compared to 5%MOSM, while all levels of MOSM significantly improved (P≤0.05) FCR compared to the control. Also, egg production % was increased with 7.5% MOSM than the other treatments. Egg mass was significantly (P≤0.05) higher for all levels of MOSM groups compared to the control, while egg weight was significantly increased with feeding 5% MOSM compared to the other treatments. Feeding quail layer on all levels of MOSM significantly (P≤0.05) improved the following egg traits compared to the control; egg internal quality unit, albumen height and yolk index. Also, 7.5 and 10% MOSM in the diets improved significantly the blood hematological parameters of white and red blood cells, hemoglobin and hematocrite % compared to the control group. The birds fed 7.5 and 10 % MOSM recorded significantly (P≤0.05) the highest value for total protein and globulin. On the other hand, using 7.5 % MOSM decreased A/G ratio compared to other treatments. Plasma lipid profile,total lipid and liver enzymes were significantly reduced (P≤0.05) but HDL and total antioxidant capacity were incrased when quail layer fed different levels of MOSM compared to the control. Reproductive performance significantly (P≤0.05) improved by feeding diets containing MOSM.
It could be concluded that, the diet containing MOSM at 5, 7.5 and 10% of the diet laying improved egg performance, egg quality, HDL values, total antioxidant capacity and reproductive performance of Japanese quail.