Effects of supra-nutritional levels of vitamin E and vitamin C on growth performance and blood parameters of Japanese quails

Abstract A study was conducted to evaluate growth performance and blood serum parameters of Japanese quails fed diets containing different supra-nutritional levels of vitamin E and C (600, 800 and 1000？mg/kg). A completely randomised design was adopted and main effects (vitamin E and C) were arranged in a 3？×？3 factorial approach. Throughout the study (1–42 d), the supplementation with 1000？mg/kg vitamin E and C resulted in the highest feed intake, weight gain, and final body weight (p？<？.01). Serum parameters showed that vitamin E and C at 1000？mg/kg determined the lowest serum concentrations of glucose, uric acid and creatinine (p？≤？0.01) and the highest of high (HDL, p？=？.01) and low (LDL, p？=？.05) density lipoprotein cholesterol and albumin (p？<？.01). The administering of 1000？mg/kg vitamin E or C reduced triglycerides (p？<？.01), aspartate amino transferase (E, p？<？.01; C, p？=？.02) and alanine amino transferase (E, p？<？.01; C, p？=？.01) whereas increased total protein, calcium, phosphorous, thyroid stimulating hormone, red blood cells, mean corpuscular volume, mean corpuscular haemoglobin and mean corpuscular haemoglobin concentration (p？<？.01). Vitamin C at 800 or 1000？mg/kg level decreased serum total cholesterol (p？<？.01) whereas vitamin E achieved the lowest alkaline phosphatase and the highest haemoglobin serum concentration (p？<？.01). The findings showed that these vitamins, used together at 1000？mg/kg, can individually or synergistically act promoting quail health, feed intake and growth. Highlights The use of vitamin E and C at high doses (1000？mg/kg) in quail diet can promote animal health. The vitamin E and C administration at high levels can be a good management practice in quail nutrition to promote feed intake and growth