Effect of Different Dietary Inclusion Levels of Sunflower Meal and Multi-Enzyme Supplementation on Performance, Meat Yield, Ileum Histomorphology, and Pancreatic Enzyme Activities in Growing Quails

This study aimed to investigate the effect of dietary sunflower meal (SFM) and multi-enzyme levels on performance, carcass traits, intestinal histomorphology and pancreatic enzyme production in quails. Three hundred and twenty, 1-day-old quail chicks were divided into 8 groups with 4 replicates consisting of 10 birds each in the group. The experiment was randomized design consisting of a 4 × 2 factorial arrangement, with four levels of SFM (0%, 10%, 15%, or 20%) and two levels of multi-enzyme (0.0 or 1.0 g/kg) inclusion in the diet. The body weight, body weight gain, and feed conversion ratio were negatively influenced by the 15% and 20% SFM ( < 0.01) but were not affected by the 10% SFM for 6 week age. The relative gizzard ( < 0.05) weights significantly increased with 20% SFM, but the relative breast weight decreased ( < 0.01). The relative liver weight increased by the addition of enzymes in the diet ( < 0.05). The villus width ( < 0.01) and villus surface area ( < 0.05) of ileum increased linearly with SFM, whereas the villus height ( < 0.01), villus height: crypt depth ( < 0.01) and tunica muscularis thickness ( < 0.01) decreased linearly with SFM. Consequently, it is possible to say that the birds with the least absorptive same weight are the most efficient. The addition of multi-enzyme increased villus height and crypt depth but decreased tunica muscularis thickness of ileum ( < 0.01). Chymotrypsin activity in the pancreas decreased linearly with SFM ( < 0.01). Amylase activity in the pancreas decreased significantly with the addition of the multi-enzyme ( < 0.05). As a result of the study, SFM can be used at a 10% level in growing quail diets with beneficial effects on the absorption surface area. The effects of enzyme supplementation on parameters measured were less pronounced than the SFM inclusion level that higher villus height and lower tunica muscularis thickness were determined in multi-enzyme-fed birds compared to those untreated counterparts.