The Effect of Vitamin E on Laying Performance and Stress Respoof Japanese Quail (Coturnlx coturnix japonica)

This study was carried out to observe the laying performance and stress response of the Japanese quail (Coturnix coturnix japonica) fed diet supplemented with vitamin E. Thirty six Japanese quails were reared and consumed either the layer feed without mixture of vitamin E (Control groups) or layer feed with the mixture of vitamin E (Vitamin E groups). The vitamin E given was around 0.225mg/kg of diet. The feed consumed, together with the number and weight of eggs laid by the quails was recorded daily for 6 weeks together with the weight of the quails. The blood was drawn every week to measure the stress response by using cell count of Heterophil/Lymphocyte ratio. This experiment was aimed to examine the effect of Vitamin E on the laying performance and stress response of that layer quail. The predicted outcome should be the Vitamin E groups should have better egg production and less stressful compare to the Control groups, but the actual result ended up proving the vice versa from the expected result. The low amount of vitamin E given and environmental temperature were concluded to be the main factor of this unexpected outcome.