PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Canogullari, S.
AU  - Baylan, M.
AU  - Erdogan, Z.
AU  - Duzguner, V.
AU  - Kucukgul, A.
TI  - The effects of dietary garlic powder on performance, egg yolk and serum cholesterol concentrations in laying quails
DP  - 2010 Jul 31
TA  - Czech Journal of Animal Science
PG  - 286--293
VI  - 55
IP  - 7
AID - 10.17221/126/2009-CJAS
IS  - 12121819
AB  - This study was conducted to investigate the effects of garlic powder on the performance, egg traits, egg cholesterol and serum parameters of laying Japanese quails. One hundred and twenty 10-weeks-old quails were allocated to four dietary treatments. Quails were caged individually and fed diets supplemented with 0 (control), 1, 2, 4% garlic powder for 12 weeks. There were significant (P < 0.05) differences among the diets in feed consumption, feed efficiency and egg production as averaged over 12 weeks. The better values for these parameters were obtained from the 1% garlic powder supplemented group. Garlic powder addition did not significantly affect egg yolk index, egg shell weight and egg shell thickness. However, there were significant differences (P < 0.05) in egg albumen index, egg shell index and Haugh unit. There was a significant (P < 0.05) reduction in the egg yolk cholesterol concentration when the dietary level of garlic powder was increased from 0 to 4 g/kg. Plasma high density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol concentrations increased (P < 0.05) with increasing levels of dietary garlic powder. Plasma cholesterol (P < 0.05) and tri-glyceride (P < 0.05) concentration decreased with garlic powder supplementation. It was concluded that garlic powder in the diet of laying quails reduced the plasma and egg yolk cholesterol concentration.