Effect of Dietary Garlic Powder on the Haematology and Cholesterol Level of Japanese Quail

Abstract

A sixteen (16) weeks feeding trial was conducted to assess the response of Japanese Quails to dietary supplementation of garlic on haematology and cholesterol levels. One hundred and forty-four (144) day old quail chicks were used for the experiment. The birds were randomly assigned to four experimental treatment groups in a completely randomized design (CRD). Each treatment contained 36 birds and was replicated three times with 12 birds per replicate. Supreme feed fortified with different inclusion levels of garlic were used to formulate the diets, and the diets were fed throughout the experimental period. The four dietary treatments were represented as T1 (the control, without garlic powder), whereas T2, T3 and T4 were supplemented with varying levels of garlic powder as 5g, 10g and 15g/kg, respectively. At the end of the experimental period, three birds from each replicate were randomly selected. Blood samples were collected from the selected birds for haematology and serum cholesterol analysis. The result shows that haemoglobin concentration and red blood cells count were significantly (P<0.05) affected among treatments, whereas, other haematology parameters were not (P>0.05). In the cholesterol profile, total cholesterol and high density lipoprotein were significantly (P<0.05) affected among treatments. It was concluded that 5, 10 and 15g/kg of garlic could e included in the diets of Japanese quails without any adverse effect.