Comparison of Sanliurfa Pepper and Dry Tomato Paste in Enhancing Egg Yolk Color of Japanese Quails

The objective of the present study was to investigate the effects of Sanliurfa Pepper (SP) and Tomato Paste (TP) on live weight change, feed intake, feed efficiency, egg qualities and egg yolk pigmentation in quails. One hundred and eighty Japanese quails, 15 weeks of age were randomly divided into three groups; one control and two experimental groups, comprising five replicates of 12 birds each. Two diets each contained SP or TP and a control diet. All products were added at a rate of 0.1%. Visual assessment of yolk colour (Roche color fan) showed a stabilized yolk color of 9.80, 13.33 and 10.8 for the control, SP and TP treatments, respectively (p<0.001). Feed efficiency (p<0.05) increased significantly in the group given SP. Feed consumption decreased (p<0.05) depending on TP supplementation. However, SP and TP did not affect live weight change, egg production, egg weight, albumen weight, yolk weight, specific gravity, shape index, shell thickness and egg shell weight. In conclusion, an increase on yolk pigmentation in eggs produced by female quail fed diets supplemented with SP.