Vitamin D3 Supplementation in the Diet on Production Performance and Physical Egg Quality of Quail (Coturnix coturnix japonica)

This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of dietary supplementation with vitamin D₃ on production performance and physical egg quality in quail. The experiment was conducted on 450 quails aged 22 weeks, which were reared until 27 weeks of age. A Completely Randomized Design (CRD) was employed, consisting of three treatments with five replications each: P0 = control diet without vitamin D₃ supplementation (control diet), P1 = P0 + 1.0 g kg⁻¹ vitamin D₃ supplementation, and P2 = P0 + 1.5 g kg⁻¹ vitamin D₃ supplementation. Data were analyzed using Analysis of Variance (ANOVA), followed by Duncan’s multiple range test when significant differences were detected. The results indicated that the addition of vitamin D₃ significantly (P<0.05) improved quail day production (QDP), egg mass, and feed conversion ratio, and very significantly (P<0.01) enhanced yolk color. However, there was no significant effect on egg index, yolk percentage, albumen percentage, shell percentage, shell thickness, or Haugh unit. Vitamin D₃ supplementation in the diet improved quail production performance and yolk color without negatively affecting the physical quality of the eggs.