Abstract
The aim of the current study was to assess the influence of Lactuca serriola supplemented diet on performance, carcass characteristics and intestinal microbiota count of Japanese quails. A total of eighty birds of quail (one week of age) were divided into 2 groups of 40 birds each (five replicates of eight birds each). In the first group, the birds were fed a basal diet without Lactuca serriola, while the birds in the second group were fed diets containing 20 g Lactuca serriola /kg feed. Birds in both groups were fed for five weeks. Quails were slaughtered in order to study intestinal microbiota count and carcass characteristics at six weeks age. The results showed that quails fed Lactuca serriola had higher growth performance including body weight in comparison with the control group. The inclusion of Lactuca serriola had significantly higher lactic acid bacteria count and lowest level of E. coli and Salmonella enterica count than the control group. However, Lactuca serriola did not affect carcass measurements. Thus, supplementation of Lactuca serriola can improve the performance of Japanese quail and used as a new feed additive to balance gut microbiota
