Vet World Vol.18 January-2025 Article - 15
Research Article
Veterinary World, 18(1): 133-140
https://doi.org/10.14202/vetworld.2025.133-140
Enhancing nutrient intake, egg production, and egg quality by fermented Leucaena leucocephala leaf meal in a diet of laying quail
2. Laboratory of Feed Technology, Politeknik Negeri Jember, Jl. Mastrip PO Box 164, Jember 68121, Indonesia.
Background and Aim: The inclusion of Leucaena leucocephala leaf meal (LLM) in poultry feed is often limited due to its high crude fiber and mimosine content. This study investigates the potential of fermented LLM (FLM) to enhance nutrient intake, egg production, and egg quality in laying quails by reducing anti-nutritional factors through fermentation.
Materials and Methods: Two hundred 42-day-old laying quails were assigned to five dietary treatments: T0 (control) = 100% basal diet (BD), T1 = 98% BD + 2% FLM, T2 = 96% BD + 4% FLM, T3 = 94% BD + 6% FLM, and T4 = 92% BD + 8% FLM. Parameters including nutrient intake (energy, protein, fat, calcium, phosphorus), feed conversion ratio (FCR), egg production, egg weight, eggshell thickness, Haugh unit, and yolk color were measured over a 28-day trial. Data were analyzed using a one-way analysis of variance, followed by Duncan’s test for significant differences (p ≤ 0.05).
Results: FLM supplementation significantly improved energy, protein, fat, calcium, and phosphorus intake while reducing FCR. At 4% FLM inclusion, significant enhancements in egg production, eggshell thickness, Haugh unit, and yolk color were observed. Conversely, fiber intake and overall feed intake remained unaffected across treatments. The highest egg production (56.43%) and best yolk color (8.95) were observed in the 8% FLM group.
Conclusion: Incorporating FLM into the diets of laying quails effectively enhances nutrient utilization and improves egg production and quality without increasing feed intake. The optimal inclusion level for maximizing benefits appears to be 4-8% FLM.
Keywords: Egg production, egg quality, fermentation, Leucaena leucocephala, nutrient intake.
How to cite this article: Utami MMD and Akbar A (2025) Enhancing nutrient intake, egg production, and egg quality by fermented Leucaena leucocephala leaf meal in a diet of laying quail, Veterinary World, 18(1): 133-140.
Received: 2024-08-20 Accepted: 2024-12-17 Published online: 2025-01-22
Corresponding author: E-mail:
DOI: 10.14202/vetworld.2025.133-140
Copyright: Utami and Akbar. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/ by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http:// creativecommons.org/ publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.
