Herbal supplements based on coniferous flour, pine nut husks, sea buckthorn and chaga in the diet of farmed quails

The results of an experiment on the use of phytonutrients from natural raw materials (coniferous flour, pine nut shell, sea buckthorn, chaga) in the diet of cultivated quails are presented. The experiment was carried out according to the standard method on the Japanese quail breed. The duration of the study was 60 days. For the experiment, three similar groups of 50 chicks each were formed from day-old quail chicks (control and two experimental groups). All groups received the same compound feed corresponding to the physiological characteristics and age of the quails. In the diets of young animals of the 1 st and 2 nd experimental groups, 1.0 % of the weight of the compound feed was introduced, respectively, herbal supplement No. 1 (coniferous flour – 33.3 %, cedar shell – 33,3 %, sea buckthorn – 33.4 %) and herbal supplement No. 2 (coniferous flour – 33.3 %, pine nut shell – 33.3 %, chaga – 33.4 %). The poultry was kept in a cage battery under the required microclimate conditions. The effect of feeding experimental phytonutrients on the following indicators of quail chickens was studied: viability, absolute and average daily gain in live weight, meat productivity and meat quality, biochemical composition of blood. Introduction of phyto-additives into the mixed fodder of the 1 st and 2 nd experimental groups increased the viability of poultry by 2.0 %, absolute live weight gain by 4.97 and 5.34 %, respectively (p > 0.05), while reducing the consumption of mixed fodder per unit of production by 6.74 and 9.58 %. The weight of the gutted carcass in the chickens of the experimental groups was 5.80 and 3.03 % higher regarding the control (p > 0.05). In poultry meat that consumed functional phytonutrients, the dry matter content increased by 0.73 and 0.27 %, fat by 0.39 and 0.23 %, and the amino acid index increased by 4.51 and 11.48%. The intergroup differences in protein, ash, calcium and phosphorus content are insignificant. The intergroup differences in protein, ash, calcium and phosphorus content are insignificant. Increase in the concentration of total protein was noted in the blood of poultry of the experimental groups by 17.31 and 10.54 %.