Effect of Cottonseed Meal As Substitute for Soybean Meal in Japanese Quail Diets on Performance and Carcass Characteristics

This study was conducted to determine the effects of cottonseed meal (csm) incorporated in to growing diets in place of soybean meal (sbm) at different diets on yield traits. in the study, 450 japanese quails (male and female) were used for growing period. birds were reared from 1-week age (7 day) to 6 week age (42 day). during this period, the rations with 24% cp and 3000 kcal/kg me were used. during experimental period, different five diets of which 0, 30, 58, 86 and 100% of the protein content supplied by sbm were supplied by csm were used. at the end of the growing experiment, there were significant differences among the experimental groups in terms of body weight (p<0.05) and live weight gain (p<0.01). there were no significant differences among the csm groups. during the growing period it couldn’t be determined any significant differences in terms of cumulative feed consumption (cfc), carcass traits and viability (p>0.05). control group have a higher feed conversion ratio (fcr) than 3th, 4th and 5th groups at the end of six weeks period. as a result, adding csm instead of sbm in growing period decreased feed efficiency.