Intestine Morphometry of the Coturnix coturnix japonica in Relation with Different Levels of Lysine in the Feed

Generally the poultry intestinal tract has the main role of absorption of food nutrients and changes with certain compounds like aminoacids, however little work has been done with quails. Four hundred one day old Coturnix japonica, were used to assess the effect of four different lysine levels (1.1, 1.2, 1.3 y 1.4%) in a ground sorghum-soybean meal based diet on the gastrointestinal morphological changes. All treatement had four replicates of 25 birds. Ten percent of the birds were humanely sacrified at 1, 4, 7, 10, 13, 17, 19 days of age to measure length and weight of small intestine and liver. Data were analyzed as repeated measurements on time. Parameters determined in the organs showed a positive response with the 1.3% of lysine in the feed (p<0.01), hence, based on the result of the present trial the previous aminoacid percentage is recommended for quails fed sorghum grain-soybean meal diets.