Nutritional requirement of lysine for laying Japanese quails (Coturnix coturnix japonica)

A performance trial was conducted to determinate the nutritional requirement of lysine for laying Japanese quails (Coturnix coturnix japonica). Two hundred and eighty eight Japanese quails with 51 old days, during four cycles of 21 days, were allotted to a completely randomized design, with six treatments and six replicates, and the experimental unit constituted by eight quails. One control diet, with appropriated levels of the crude protein and amino acids and others five diets, with increasing levels of lysine (.65, .85, 1.05, 1.25, and 1.45%) and 14.1% crude protein were evaluated. Excluding the control diet, the estimates of lysine requirements, considering the laying percentage and egg weight average were 1.07 and 1.08%, respectively. The control diet with 19.0% of crude protein and 1.0% of lysine was enough to meet the nutritional requirement of this amino acid.