Performance, Egg Quality, and Yolk Antioxidant Capacity of the Laying Quail in Response to Dietary Choline Levels

SIMPLE SUMMARY: Adequate dietary nutrient intake is essential for optimal performance in poultry production. In recent years, improvements in animal genetics have led to changes in animal nutrition requirements. Consequently, livestock nutrient requirements must be periodically reevaluated. Choline is an essential nutrient for poultry and its deficiency causes developmental and health problems. Choline requirements for laying quail are based on previous recommendations and require new research. This study aimed to determine the ideal dose of choline for laying quails based on their productive development and egg quality. A dose of 1500 mg/kg of choline was determined to be sufficient to maintain egg quality and performance of laying quails. Nevertheless, 3500 mg/kg of choline would be required in the diet to observe improvements in egg antioxidant capacity. ABSTRACT: The current study determined the ideal dose of choline in the diet of laying quails based on egg development, egg quality, and antioxidant capacity. A total of 120 female quails (244.7 ± 10.38 g) were randomly assigned to 6 experimental groups with 5 replicates of 4 quails each. In the 10-week trial, treatment diets were formed by adding 6 choline chloride−60% concentrations providing 1500 (control), 2000, 2500, 3000, 3500, and 4000 mg/kg of choline. The feed intake of quails was quadratically affected (p < 0.05) by the choline level of the diet, in other developmental parameters, and by egg quality among these treatments. The feed intake was reduced to 2500 and 3000 mg/kg levels of choline in the diet compared to the control group. Free radical scavenging capacity (DPPH) of the yolk increased linearly (p < 0.001) with dietary choline levels. In contrast, the thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) value decreased as dietary choline levels increased, except for 4000 mg/kg levels. Based on the findings of the current study, 1500 mg/kg of dietary choline is adequate to maintain performance parameters and egg quality in laying quails. However, to increase egg antioxidant capacity, in terms of the DPPH value, the dietary choline dose needs to be increased to 3500 mg/kg.