Metagenomic Analysis Identifies Sex-Related Cecal Microbial Gene Functions and Bacterial Taxa in the Quail

Background: Japanese quail (Coturnix japonica) are important and widely distributed poultry in China. Researchers continue to pursue genetic selection for heavier quail. The intestinal microbiota plays a substantial role in growth promotion; however, the mechanisms involved in growth promotion remain unclear.Results: We generated 107.3 Gb of cecal microbiome data from ten Japanese quail, providing a series of quail gut microbial gene catalogs (1.25 million genes). We identified a total of 606 main microbial species from 1,033,311 annotated genes distributed among the ten quail. Seventeen microbial species from the genera Anaerobiospirillum, Alistipes, Barnesiella, and Butyricimonas differed significantly in their abundances between the female and male gut microbiotas. Most of the functional gut microbial genes were involved in metabolism, primarily in carbohydrate transport and metabolism, as well as some active carbohydrate-degrading enzymes. We also identified 308 antibiotic-resistance genes (ARGs) from the phyla Bacteroidetes, Firmicutes and Euryarchaeota. Studies of the differential gene functions between sexes indicated that abundances of the gut microbes that produce carbohydrate-active enzymes varied between female and male quail. Bacteroidetes was the predominant ARG-containing phylum in female quail; Euryarchaeota was the predominant ARG-containing phylum in male quail.Conclusion: This article provides the first description of the gene catalog of the cecal bacteria in Japanese quail as well as insights into the bacterial taxa and predictive metagenomic functions between male and female quail to provide a better understanding of the microbial genes in the quail ceca.

Amino acids in compound feed when rearing replacement young quails

In the technology of production of quail eggs it is important to prepare the replacement young quails for egg laying since the timing of the beginning and duration of the productive period, the level of egg production, and the quality of eggs depend on it. A prerequisite for obtaining high productivity of laying quails in the future is a complete feeding during the rearing period. One solution to this problem is the use of synthetic amino acids in poultry feeding, which increase the biological value of the feed protein to meet the poultry’s protein needs. The results of research on the use of compound feed with an increased content of amino acids (lysine and methionine with cystine) by 15 and 20 % in the nutritional content of replacement young quails of Omskaya breed of meat and egg productivity have been presented in the article. It has been found that the use of experimental compound feed contributed to the increase in the live weight of quails of the experimental groups by 3,94 and 2,97 %, the decrease in the average daily feed consumption by 11,21 and 7,56 %, and expenditures of compound feed for 1 kg of gain by 14,54 and 8,31 %. The higher content of amino acids has increased the yield of effective young quails in the experimental groups by 4,09 and 7,07 %. It has been found in the result of carrying out anatomical cutting of carcasses that feeding quails with experimental compound feed had a stimulating effect on the development of egg-forming organs. The calculation of the economic efficiency of rearing replacement young quails has shown that the use of compound feed with the increase in amino acids by 15 and 20 % in compound feed reduced the expenditures of their rearing by 8,04 and 5,28 % and the prime-cost of one replacement female quail by 12,86 and 11,63 %.

Effect of Fermented Kangkong Seed (Ipomoea reptans Poir.) on Characteristics and Histology of Female Quail Reproductive Organs

Quail has a high reproductive ability, which can reach 3 to 4 generations a year. The quail also have high eggs productivity and capable of producing 250-300 eggs/quail/year. Egg production is closely related to the reproductive system and feed. It is necessary to know the effect of feeding fermented kangkong on the characteristics and histology of the quail reproductive organs. The increase in livestock population should be balanced with an increase in the availability of feed. Kangkong seeds waste (Ipomoea reptans Poir.) is rejected seeds from seed factories that have the potential to become alternative feed ingredients because it contains about 13.46% protein. The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of fermented kangkong seed feed (Bikafer) on the characteristics of reproductive tract organs and histology of quail oviducts because feeds affect the development of the reproductive tract and quail egg production. This study used a completely randomized design method (CRD) with 5 treatments and 4 replications. The treatments were as follows: R0 = commercial feed, R1 = 0% (Bikafer), R2 = 7.5% (Bikafer), R3 = 15% (Bikafer) ,R4 = 22.5% (Bikafer). Data were analyzed using one-way ANOVA with a significance level of 95% (α = 0.05) and the Kruskal-Wallis test, while histological observations were described descriptively. The results showed that there were significant differences in the characteristics of the uterus, vaginal length, and isthmus weights. The histology of the quail reproductive tract developed well and showed the tunica mucosal tissue, serous tunica, muscular tunica, goblet cells, epithelium, and tubular gland cells.

Identification of reference genes for studies of quantitative gene expression in male and female quail tissues.

This study aimed to evaluate stability and recommend reference genes for quantitative real-time PCR in different tissues from male and female broiler quails. The stability of 10 housekeeping genes (GAPDH, RPL5, MRPS27, MRPS30, TFRC, HMBS, EEF1, LDHA, B2M and UBC) was analyzed in heart, thigh muscle, brain and spleen, by means Bestkeeper, NormFinder, GeNorm softwares with ∆Cq method. The most stable housekeeping genes were MRPS30, TFRC and HMBS in heart; MRPS30, EEF1 and HMBS in thigh muscle; B2M, GAPDH and UBC in brain; and EEF1, LDHA and HMBS in spleen. It is recommended to be used as reference genes for gene expression studies of male and female quails.

The effect of dried white mulberry (Morus alba) pulp supplementation in diets of laying quail

Objective. This study was conducted to research the effects of different levels of dried white mulberry (Morus alba) pulp supplementation in diets of laying quail on yield performances, egg quality, blood parameters, yolk fatty acid profiles and cholesterol concentrations. Materials and Methods. A completely randomized experimental design, with four treatments and four replicates, was applied. The experimental treatments were M0: control diet; M4: dietary inclusion of 4% mulberry pulp; M8: dietary inclusion of 8% mulberry pulp; M12: dietary inclusion of 12% mulberry pulp. This experiment was carried out for 4 weeks, and 128 7-week-old female quail were used. Results. Addition of dried mulberry pulp to the diet significantly affected weekly feed intake, egg yield, albumin index, yolk weight, triglyceride, LDL, serum cholesterol and yolk cholesterol levels (p<0.05, p<0.01). The feed conversion ratio, egg weight, and egg yolk fatty acid profile were not significantly affected by the dried mulberry pulp in the diet. Conclusions. As a result, it may be stated that adding dried mulberry pulp up to 8% of the diets of laying quail does not cause any adverse effects and may be used without any problems.

Effects on the Ileal Microbiota of Phosphorus and Calcium Utilization, Bird Performance, and Gender in Japanese Quail

In this study, we aimed to investigate the ileum digesta of a large cohort of Japanese quail fed the same diet, with similar environmental conditions. We also address how P utilization (PU), Ca utilization (CaU), and bird performance (feed intake (FI), feed conversion (FC), and body weight gain (BWG)) modify intestinal microbiota of male and female quail. Despite the great number of samples analyzed (760), a core microbiome was composed of five bacteria. The Unc. Lactobacillus, Unc. Clostridaceae 1, Clostridium sensu stricto, Escherichia coli, and Streptococcus alactolyticus were detected in all samples and contributed to more than 70% of the total community. Depending on the bird predisposition for PU, CaU, FI, BWG, and FC, those species were present in higher or lower abundances. There was a significant gender effect on the ileal microbial community. While females had higher abundances of Lactobacillus, males were more colonized by Streptococcus alactolyticus. The entire cohort was highly colonized by Escherichia coli (8%–15%), an enteropathogenic bacteria. It remains unclear, if microbiota composition followed the mechanisms that caused different PU, CaU, FI, FC, and BWG or if the change in microbiota composition and function caused the differences in PU, CaU, and performance traits.