Introduction

In Mexico, poultry production in 2024 was 4,013,215.817 tons (SIAP 2024SIAP. Servicio de Información Agroalimentaria y Pesquera. 2024. https://nube.agricultura.gob.mx/cierre_pecuario/ ), the state of Campeche contributing 0.6 % to productivity, and increased in the last five years from 22,761.903 to 24,031.919 tons. Of the poultry species most raised and consumed in Campeche, the hen (Gallus gallus) is recorded, followed by the turkey (Meleagris gallopavo), mainly in backyards, because they contribute to the family economy through sales (Portillo-Salgado et al. 2018Portillo-Salgado, R., Herrera-Haro, J.G., Ortega-Cerrilla, M.E., Bárcena, G.J.R., Bautista-Ortega, J. & Sánchez, V.A. 2018. Análisis descriptivo de las prácticas locales de cría y manejo del guajolote nativo (Meleagris gallopavo L.) en Campeche, México. Agro Productividad, 11(1): 88-94, ISSN: 2594-0252. https://revista-agroproductividad.org/index.php/agroproductividad/article/view/157. ). Regarding the consumption of these birds, the values range between 65 and 1.2 kg per year per capita, increasing in the December season (Magaña et al. 2022Magaña, M., Valdivieso, P.I. & Aguilar, U.E. 2022. Importancia socioeconómica de las especies pecuarias criadas en traspatio en localidades rurales de Yucatán y Campeche. Acta Universitaria, 32: 1-17, ISSN: 2007-9621. http://doi.org/10.15174.au.2022.3678. ). Both the chicken and the turkey are species of great commercial interest, but in rural communities, a fast-growing, prolific species is required to meet the requirements of families in a short time. Therefore, quail (C. coturnix japonica) is a viable option, due to its early egg production, high nutritional value in proteins, vitamins and minerals, and low cholesterol content, as well as rapid growth for the supply of meat (Saeed et al. 2025Saeed, M., Aslam, F., Khan, M.S., Kamboh, A.A., Farooq, Z., Khan, R.U., Sultan, A.M. & Moryani, A.A. 2025. Nutritional Significance and Health Benefits of Quail's Meat and Eggs: An Empirical Review. Pakistan Journal of Zoology, 57(1): 1-11, ISSN: 3049-5709. https://dx.doi.org/10.17582/journal.pjz/20220507070529. ).

Feeding practices for commercial poultry birds are limited to consumption of grains and concentrates (Getahun et al. 2025Getahun, A., Kechero, Y., Yemane, N., Dessie, T. & Esatu, W. 2025. Nutritional evaluation and potential of locally available alternative feed resources for sustainable poultry production: a case study of smallholder farms in central and Southern Ethiopia. Tropical Animal Health and Production, 57(7): 317, ISSN: 1573-7438. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11250-025-04549-7. ). To reduce the dependence on these products, there are various strategies that maintain or increase the production efficiency, such as the use of probiotics (Mulyono 2025Mulyono, M. 2025. Use of Probiotics as an Alternative to Antibiotic Growth Promoters in Poultry Farming: A Review. Journal of Advances in Biology & Biotechnology, 28(6): 1336-1347, ISSN: 2394-1081. https://doi.org/10.9734/jabb/2025/v28i62491. ), Vicia faba L., Pisum sativum, Cicer arietinum L., Copra Meal and Palm kernel meal (Babatunde et al. 2021Babatunde, O.O., Park, C.S. & Adeola, O. 2021. Nutritional potentials of atypical feed ingredients for broiler chickens and pigs. Animals, 11(5): 1196, ISSN: 2076-2615. https://doi.org/10.3390/ani11051196. ). In recent years it has been reported that the inclusion of forage plants improves the nutritional quality in the diet of birds (Barbarosa et al. 2022Barbarosa, A.P., Tavakoli, M., Khusro, A., Seidavi, A., Elghandour, M.M., Salem, A.Z., Márquez, M.O., & Rivas, C.R. 2022. Beneficial and adverse effects of medicinal plants as feed supplements in poultry nutrition: A review. Animal Biotechnology, 33(2): 369-391, ISSN: 1532-2378. https://doi.org/10.1080/10495398.2020.1798973. ). Among tropical forage species, Valdivié-Navarro et al. (2020)Valdivié-Navarro, M., Martínez, Y., Mesa-Fleitas, O., Botello-León, A., Hurtado, C.B. & Velázquez-Martí, B. 2020. Review of Moringa oleifera as forage meal (leaves plus stems) intended for the feeding of non-ruminant animals. Animal Feed Science and Technology, 260: 114338, ISSN: 1873-2216. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anifeedsci.2019.114338. and Faustin-Evaris et al. (2022)Faustin-Evaris, E., Sarmiento-Franco, L.A., Capetillo-Leal, C.M. & Sandoval-Castro, C.A. 2022. Composition of slow-growing male chicken’s meat and bone quality as affected by dietary Moringa oleifera Lam. meal. Animals, 12(24): 3482, ISSN: 2076-2615. https://doi.org/10.3390/ani13081379. mention that it is favorable to include M. oleifera in bird diets, because it increases the rate of feed conversion and digestibility of the holistic diet (Egbu et al. 2024Egbu, C.F., Mulaudzi, A., Motsei, L.E. & Mnisi, C.M. 2024. Moringa oleifera products as nutraceuticals for sustainable poultry production. Agriculture & Food Security, 13(1): 54, ISSN: 2048-7010. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40066-024-00508-x. ). In addition, this incorporation of foliage could improve the content of polyunsaturated fatty acids, oxidative stability, the colour of the breast muscle and abdominal fat (Cui et al. 2018Cui, Y.M., Wang, J., Lu, W., Zhang, H.J., Wu, S.G. & Qi, G.H. 2018. Effect of dietary supplementation with Moringa oleifera leaf on performance, meat quality, and oxidative stability of meat in broilers. Poultry Science, 97: 2836-2844, ISSN: 1525-3171. https://doi.org/10.3382/ps/pey122. ). Similarly, improvements are reported in egg quality and antistress activity (Gayathri et al. 2020Gayathri, S., Babu, L. & Panda, A. 2020. Effect of dietary supplementation of Moringa oleifera leaf meal on egg quality, composition and anti-stress activity of Vanaraja laying hens. Indian Journal of Animal Sciences, 90: 207-211, ISSN: 2394-3327. https://doi.org/10.5958/0974-181X.2020.00025.6. ). In this sense, the inclusion of foliage shrub species such as L. leucocephala at low levels in the diet of laying hens has shown promising results in weight gain, body weight and feed intake (Utami and Akbar 2025Utami, M.M.D. & Akbar, A. 2025. Enhancing nutrient intake, egg production, and egg quality by fermented Leucaena leucocephala leaf meal in a diet of laying quail. Veterinary World, 18(1): 133, ISSN: 2231-0916. http://doi.org/10.14202/vetworld.2025.133-140. ).

Regarding the supply of forage species in bird diets, it has been shown that the transformation of foliage to meal causes positive effects on health, survival, growth rate, feed use efficiency and improves egg production, leading to a positive economic impact, by significantly reducing feed and production costs (Valdivié-Navarro et al. 2020Valdivié-Navarro, M., Martínez, Y., Mesa-Fleitas, O., Botello-León, A., Hurtado, C.B. & Velázquez-Martí, B. 2020. Review of Moringa oleifera as forage meal (leaves plus stems) intended for the feeding of non-ruminant animals. Animal Feed Science and Technology, 260: 114338, ISSN: 1873-2216. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anifeedsci.2019.114338. ). These benefits were observed in commercial laying hens fed inclusions of up to 6 % M. oleifera (da Silva et al. 2024da Silva, J.R.V., Rabello, C.B.V., Ludke, M.D., Lopes, C.D.C., de Medeiros-Ventura, W.R.L., Soares, E.D.S. & Oliveira, H.S.D. 2024. Performance and quality of eggs of laying hens fed with Moringa oleifera leaf flour. PloS one, 19(12): e0314905, ISSN: 1932-6203. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0314905. ) and fermented L. leucocephala meal (Utami and Akbar 2025Utami, M.M.D. & Akbar, A. 2025. Enhancing nutrient intake, egg production, and egg quality by fermented Leucaena leucocephala leaf meal in a diet of laying quail. Veterinary World, 18(1): 133, ISSN: 2231-0916. http://doi.org/10.14202/vetworld.2025.133-140. ), without causing negative effects on performance or egg quality. Despite the encouraging results that have been obtained in birds, there are few studies on the productive performance of C. coturnix including these foliage species in the diet. Therefore, the objective of this research was to evaluate the productive parameters and carcass composition of Coturnix coturnix japonica fed L. leucocephala and M. oleifera.

Material and Methods

Study area: The work was carried out at the poultry facilities of Colegio de Postgraduados Campeche Campus, located at 19 ° 29'51.79 "N and 90 ° 32'45.01"W, in Sihochac, Champotón, México (INEGI 2017), with an annual temperature of 26 °C and at 24 masl (García 2004García, E. 2004. Modificaciones al sistema de clasificación climática de Köppen. Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. México. Pp. 97. Available at: http://www.publicaciones.igg.unam.mx/index.php/ig/catalog/book/83. ).

Animal handling and treatment design: A total of 270 quails aged 18 days with an average body weight of 19 g were randomly distributed into three treatments, with three repetitions (cages) per treatment and 30 birds per cage. Treatments were classified as ACOM=Commercial Feed (600 g d^-1 replicate^-1 = 1800 g d^-1), MO: ground M. oleifera (300 g d^-1 repetition^-1 = 900 g d^-1) + ACOM (300 g d^-1 repetition^-1 = 900 g d^-1) and LEU: ground L. leucocephala (300 g d^-1 repetition^-1 = 900 g d^-1) + ACOM (300 g d^-1replicate^-1 = 900 g d^-1).

The experimental period lasted 84 days, plus a five-day adaptation period. The birds were housed in cages with an area of 0.67 m² per quail, which included cup-type drinkers for water and PVC feeders. The animals were treated in accordance with guidelines and regulations for animal experimentation of the Colegio de Postgraduados (COLPOS 2019COLPOS. Colegio de Postgraduados. 2019. Reglamento para el uso y cuidado de animales destinados a la investigación. Available at: http://www.colpos.mx/wb_pdf/norma_interna/ruc_animalesinvestigacion.pdf. ), with official approval CCACC2017-069 and following animal management and well-being guidelines of the NRC (2010)NRC. National Research Council. 2010. Guide for the care and use of laboratory animals: Eighth Edition. National Academies Press. Washington, DC. USA. Pp. 246. https://grants.nih.gov/grants/olaw/guide-for-the-care-and-use-of-laboratory-animals.pdf. .

Foliage collection and chemical composition: The leaves of M. oleifera were collected from a five-year-old orchard located at the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Science of the Universidad Autónoma de Yucatán, México. The leaves of L. leucocephala were collected from a four-year-old orchard at Colegio de Postgraduados. The foliage was sun-dried for a period of 48 h, crushed using a Bomeri® Model PD65RM mincer with two hoppers and a sieve size 3 mm; the foliage was subsequently chopped and sieved using a mesh size 7 until a flour-like texture was achieved.

Crude protein (CP) content was calculated according to the Kjeldahl method, the ether extract (EE) was quantified by the Soxhlet method, ash content was determined by the combustion method, acid detergent fiber (ADF) and neutral detergent fiber (NDF) were determined using the method (AOAC 2019AOAC. 2019. Official Methods of Analysis of the Association of Official Analytical Chemists: Official Methods of Analysis of AOAC International. 21st Edition, AOAC, Washington, DC.). For gross energy (GE) it was used by an adiabatic pump calorimeter (Parr-328, Parr Instruments Co., IL, USA) (AOAC 2019AOAC. 2019. Official Methods of Analysis of the Association of Official Analytical Chemists: Official Methods of Analysis of AOAC International. 21st Edition, AOAC, Washington, DC.). The diets met the nutritional requirements of quails aged at 19 days old (NRC 1994NRC. National Research Council. 1994. Nutrient Requirements of Poultry: Ninth Revised Edition. National Academies Press. Washington, DC. USA. Pp. 110-112.) (table 1).

Feed consumption, daily weight gain, final weight gain and feed conversion: Feed consumption (dry mater: DM) of each treatment was measured daily by weighing the feed offered and subtracting the rejected amount on a Torrey® digital scale of 20 kg. To assess body weight gain and final body weight, all birds in each treatment were weighed every seven days for 12 weeks, with previous fasting period. Feed conversion ratio (CA) was calculated using the average feed intake, divided by the average body weight gain for each treatment.

Composition of the quail carcass: At the end of the experiment, 30 birds were randomly chosen per treatment, they were fasted for 12 hours to minimize the interference of the intestinal content with the weight of the animals. They were humanely slaughtered according to the Animal Welfare guidelines of Colegio de Postgraduados (COLPOS 2019COLPOS. Colegio de Postgraduados. 2019. Reglamento para el uso y cuidado de animales destinados a la investigación. Available at: http://www.colpos.mx/wb_pdf/norma_interna/ruc_animalesinvestigacion.pdf. ), with official approval CCACC2017-069 which are based on the Official Mexican Norm NOM-033-SAG/ZOO-2014Norma Oficial Mexicana NOM-033-SAG/ZOO-2014. Métodos para dar muerte a los animales domésticos y silvestres. Estado de México, México. Available at: https://www.gob.mx/profepa/documentos/norma-oficial-mexicana-nom-033-sag-zoo-2014-metodos-para-dar-muerte-a-los-animales-domesticos-y-silvestres.. After removing the inedible parts (feathers, legs, head), the carcass, skin, meat, bones, and viscera were weighed, on an analytical balance (260g x 0.0001g) model ADVENTURER PRO AV264C O' HAUS. The carcass yield and yield percentages were calculated by the following formula:

Chemical composition of meat: After the animals were slaughtered, meat samples from each treatment were homogenized to determine pH using an Oakton EcoTestr pH® pH meter, CP was evaluated using the Kjendahl method, and ash and EE were measured following the methodology established by the AOAC (2019)AOAC. 2019. Official Methods of Analysis of the Association of Official Analytical Chemists: Official Methods of Analysis of AOAC International. 21st Edition, AOAC, Washington, DC..

Statistical analysis: The feed consumption, daily weight gain, final weight gain, feed conversion ratio, composition of the quail carcass (carcass, skin, meat, bones, and viscera) and chemical composition of meat (pH, CP, ash and EE) were analyzed under a completely randomized design. The comparison of means was carried out through a multiple Tukey test using the Statistica v7.1 software (StatSoft 2005Statsoft. 2005. Inc. Statistica (data analysis software system) Version 7.1.). The variability in the data was expressed as the standard error (SE) and a significance level of p≤0.05 was considered statistically significant.

Results and Discussion

Total feed consumption, daily weight gain, final weight gain, and feed conversion ratio: Consumption of foliage meal (p≤0.05) and the final weight gain (p≤0.05) of C. coturnix, were higher in the group that consumed commercial feed (ACOM) than in the groups fed MO and LEU. Daily body weight gains (p≤0.05) were higher in treatments fed ACOM and MO diets compared to LEU. The feed conversion ratio was higher in the birds fed the LEU diet (p≤0.05), but this parameter was similar in both the ACOM and MO groups of birds (table 2).

The final body weights recorded in the MO and LEU treatments are similar those reported by Perdomo et al. (2019)Perdomo, D.A., Briceño, A., Díaz, D., González, D., González, L., Moratinos, P.A., Nuñez, E. & Perea, F.P. 2019. Efecto de la suplementación dietética con harina de morera (Morus alba) sobre el desempeño productivo de codornices (Coturnix coturnix japonica) en crecimiento. Revista de Investigaciones Veterinarias del Perú, 30(2): 634-644, ISSN: 1609-9117. http://dx.doi.org/10.15381/rivep.v30i2.15088. reaching final body weights of 147 g on average, in one-day quails with initial weight of 7.3 g and supplements with foliage of Morus alba, and Cassava leaf meal, quails improve weight gain and feed conversion with 176.4 and 3.04 g, respectively (Silva et al. 2017Silva, J.P., Valerio, L.S., Quintao, L.G., Lira, S.L., Castro, T.E. & Silva, F.T. 2017. Cassava foliage in quail feeding. Acta Veterinária Brasilica, 11: 150-156, ISSN: 1981-5484. https://doi.org/10.21708/avb.2017.11.0.6921. ). Likewise, when 14 % de M. oleifera is offered in the diet of C. coturnix, they increase the yield of the carcass by 61 % (Castillo et al. 2018Castillo, L., Portillo, L., León, F., Gutiérrez, D., Angulo, E., Muy-Rangel, M. & Heredia J. 2018. Inclusion of Moringa Leaf Powder (Moringa oleifera) in Fodder for Feeding Japanese Quail (Coturnix coturnix japonica). Brazilian Journal of Poultry Science, 1: 15-18, ISSN: 1806-9061. https://doi.org/10.1590/1806-9061-2017-0410. ), improving nutrient utilization and productive performance (Manju and Bidhan 2025aManju, L. & Bidhan, C. M. 2025a. Effect of dietary incorporation of drumstick (Moringa oleifera Lam.) leaf meal on production performance, nutrient utilization and feed cost economics of laying japanese quail (Coturnix coturnix japonica). Journal of Scientific Research and Reports, 31(5): 223-241, ISSN: 2320-0227. https://doi.org/10.9734/jsrr/2025/v31i53020. ).

Regarding the diet containing L. leucocephala, it was the least consumed foliage, possibly because of the presence of mimosine or another metabolite that may cause adverse effects (Bageel et al. 2020Bageel, A., Honda, M.D.H., Carrillo, J.T. & Borthakur, D. 2020. Giant leucaena (Leucaena leucocephala subsp. glabrata): a versatile tree-legume for sustainable agroforestry. Agroforestry Systems, 94: 251-268, ISSN: 1572-9680. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10457-019-00392-6. ). For example, in broilers fed diets supplemented with leaf meal of the legume Acacia angustisima, a quadratic decrease in final body weight, consumption of feed and daily weight gain was observed (Gudiso et al. 2019Gudiso, X., Hlatini, V., Chimonyo, M. & Mafongoya, P. 2019. Response of broiler (Gallus gallus domesticus) performance and carcass traits to increasing levels of Acacia angustissima leaf meal as a partial replacement of standard protein sources. Journal of Applied Poultry Research, 28: 13-22, ISSN: 1537-0437. https://doi.org/10.3382/japr/pfx068. ) and, in quails, the inclusion of 4 to 8 % of fermented leucaena meal improves nutrient intake, feed conversion ratio and egg production (Utami and Akbar 2025Utami, M.M.D. & Akbar, A. 2025. Enhancing nutrient intake, egg production, and egg quality by fermented Leucaena leucocephala leaf meal in a diet of laying quail. Veterinary World, 18(1): 133, ISSN: 2231-0916. http://doi.org/10.14202/vetworld.2025.133-140. ). Therefore, the incorporation of Leucaena meal up to 10 % of diet may be a viable option for quail feeding, compared to that of a strictly commercial diet.

Carcass composition: It was observed that the birds in the ACOM group obtained the highest carcass weight (p≤0.05) and bone weight (p≤0.05), and the lowest viscera weight (p≤0.05) compared to the rest of the treatments. The viscera and carcass weights in birds from MO and LEU treatments were similar, whereas the LEU showed the lowest bone weight. No differences were observed in meat and skin weight among treatments (table 3).

When using other supplements in quails such as Tenebrio molitor, Zophobas morio at a proportion of 1 to 2 g/kg or aqueous cinnamon extract (1.5 mL/L) a carcass weight of 128-133 g was obtained (Khan et al. 2022Khan, S., Tanweer, A.J., Rafiullah, I., Abbas, G., Khan, J., Imran, M.S. & Kamboh, A.A. 2022. Effect of supplementation of mealworm scales (Tenebrio molitor) on growth performance, carcass traits and histomorphology of Japanese quails. Journal of Animal Health and Production, 10(3): 381-389, ISSN: 2308-2801. http://dx.doi.org/10.17582/journal.jahp/2022/10.3.381.389. , Al-Khalaifah et al. 2025Al-Khalaifah, H., Ahmad, S., Ullah, R., Islam, Z., Sultan, A., Islam, Z., Abudabos, A., Naz, S., Khan, R.U. & Alhidary, I.A. 2025. Effects of Tenebrio molitor and Zophobas morio larvae meal Supplementation on Growth Performance, Carcass Traits, and Gut Histomorphology in Japanese Quails. Poultry Science, 104(2): 105803, ISSN: 1525-3171. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psj.2025.105803. and Isam et al. 2025Isam, O., AL-Doori, A.D., Al-Doori, A.A., Aldarraji, S.A. & Qais, A.S. 2025. Effect of aqueous extract of garlic, cinnamon and their mixture on the productive performance and carcass characteristics of Japanese quail. International Journal of Veterinary Sciences and Animal Husbandry, 10(1): 273-282, ISSN: 2456-2912. http://www.veterinarypaper.com. ) similar to the value found in this study.

A high carcass and bone weight gain in ACOM treatment can reveal high fat or collagen content, which is usually affected by factors such as species, age, and nutritional plan. In this research, the low weight of bones in the LEU treatment, is attributed to the inclusion of 50 % of Leucaena foliage meal, which provides greater amount of fiber, poor digestibility in the digestive tract, increasing the excretion of nutrients, including calcium. Also, the carcasses of birds supplemented with Moringa and Leucaena foliage meal had the highest carcass yield, with 80 and 90 % respectively. In this sense, Castillo et al. (2018)Castillo, L., Portillo, L., León, F., Gutiérrez, D., Angulo, E., Muy-Rangel, M. & Heredia J. 2018. Inclusion of Moringa Leaf Powder (Moringa oleifera) in Fodder for Feeding Japanese Quail (Coturnix coturnix japonica). Brazilian Journal of Poultry Science, 1: 15-18, ISSN: 1806-9061. https://doi.org/10.1590/1806-9061-2017-0410. recorded an increase in weight of C. coturnix carcasses, recording up to 61 % of the carcass yield, with diets supplemented with 14 % of M. oleifera powder whereas, while the incorporation of lower values such as: 1, 3, 5, 7 and 9 % of Moringa leaf meal in the diet of C. coturnix japonica did not affect the weight of the carcass, viscera, neck, back, wing, thigh, drumstick and breast; however, 3 % of the meal improved the meat-bone ratio (Manju and Bidhan 2025bManju, L. & Bidhan, C.M. 2025b. Effect of supplementing moringa oleifera leaf powder and vitamins C and E on carcass characteristics of japanese quail. European Journal of Nutrition & Food Safety, 17(4): 140-149, ISSN: 2347-5641. https://doi.org/10.9734/ejnfs/2025/v17i41686. ). Some studies indicate that increasing the inclusion of legumes such as Tylosema esculentum in quail diets decreases body weight gain (Fatoki et al. 2023Fatoki, M.F., Kiarie, E.G. & Mnisi, C.M. 2023. Jumbo quail responses to diets containing raw or heat-treated Marama bean (Tylosema esculentum) meal. Translational Animal Science, 7(1): 1-10, ISSN: 2573-2102. https://doi.org/10.1093/tas/txad136. ).

Chemical composition of meat: No effect of feeding was found on the chemical composition of the meat for any of the treatments (table 4).

The pH values obtained in the present investigation are similar to those reported in quails fed diets with Brassica napus added at levels of 2.5 to 17.5 %, with pH values of 6.38 to 6.56 (Mnisi and Mlambo 2018Mnisi, C.M. & Mlambo, V. 2018. Growth performance, haematology, serum biochemistry and meat quality characteristics of Japanese quail (Coturnix coturnix japonica) fed canola meal-based diets. Animal Nutrition, 4: 37-43, ISSN: 2405-6383. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aninu.2017.08.011. ), as well as in broiler chicken meat fed with M. oleifera leaf meal with values of 5.45 to 6.40 (Cui et al. 2018Cui, Y.M., Wang, J., Lu, W., Zhang, H.J., Wu, S.G. & Qi, G.H. 2018. Effect of dietary supplementation with Moringa oleifera leaf on performance, meat quality, and oxidative stability of meat in broilers. Poultry Science, 97: 2836-2844, ISSN: 1525-3171. https://doi.org/10.3382/ps/pey122. ). However, in quails supplemented with black cumin meal and noni leaf meal, the pH in the meat is more acidic (5.80 and 5.90) (Dengan and Kombinasi 2024Dengan, P.K.B.P. & Kombinasi, P.T. 2024. Quail Carcass Performance Using Additional Feed Combination of Noni Leaf Flour and Black Cumin Flour. Journal of Applied Veterinary Science and Technology, 5(2): 109-114, ISSN: 2716-117X. http://doi/10.20473/javest.V5.I2.2024.109-114. ). The Ash content in the study ranged between 4.92 and 5.0 %, being higher than those reported in different lines of quail and pigeons, with amounts of 1.29 to 2.26 % (Lukanov et al. 2023Lukanov, H., Pavlova, I., Genchev, A., Penkov, D., Peltekov, A. & Mihaylova, G. 2023. Quality and composition of meat in different productive types of domestic quail. Journal of Central European Agriculture, 24(2): 322-339, ISSN: 1332-9049. http://dx.doi.org/10.5513/JCEA01/24.2.3871. and Muraduzzaman et al. 2023Muraduzzaman, M., Ahammed, M., Habib, M., Azad, M., Hashem, M. & Ali, M. 2023. Comparison of meat yield and quality characteristics between pigeon and quail. Meat Research, 3(2): 1-6, ISSN: 2790-1971. https://doi.org/10.55002/mr.3.2.52. ).

In relation to protein, the values observed in the present work are lower than those reported by Sabow (2020)Sabow, A.B. 2020. Carcass characteristics, physicochemical attributes, and fatty acid and amino acid compositions of meat obtained from different Japanese quail strains. Tropical Animal Health and Production, 52: 131-140, ISSN: 1573-7438. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11250-019-01991-2. , where the average was 22.52 g/100 g in three species of quail fed with commercial diets, as well as specialized, dual-purpose and European-type quail lines with averages of 21.24, 21.65 and 20.08 % (Lukanov et al. 2023Lukanov, H., Pavlova, I., Genchev, A., Penkov, D., Peltekov, A. & Mihaylova, G. 2023. Quality and composition of meat in different productive types of domestic quail. Journal of Central European Agriculture, 24(2): 322-339, ISSN: 1332-9049. http://dx.doi.org/10.5513/JCEA01/24.2.3871. ), and in pigeons and fattening quails with 19.18 and 24.40 % (Muraduzzaman et al. 2023Muraduzzaman, M., Ahammed, M., Habib, M., Azad, M., Hashem, M. & Ali, M. 2023. Comparison of meat yield and quality characteristics between pigeon and quail. Meat Research, 3(2): 1-6, ISSN: 2790-1971. https://doi.org/10.55002/mr.3.2.52. ). Finally, the percentage of ether extract was higher than those recorded in different quail lines with ranges from 1.86 to 6.06 (Lukanov et al. 2023Lukanov, H., Pavlova, I., Genchev, A., Penkov, D., Peltekov, A. & Mihaylova, G. 2023. Quality and composition of meat in different productive types of domestic quail. Journal of Central European Agriculture, 24(2): 322-339, ISSN: 1332-9049. http://dx.doi.org/10.5513/JCEA01/24.2.3871. and Muraduzzaman et al. 2023Muraduzzaman, M., Ahammed, M., Habib, M., Azad, M., Hashem, M. & Ali, M. 2023. Comparison of meat yield and quality characteristics between pigeon and quail. Meat Research, 3(2): 1-6, ISSN: 2790-1971. https://doi.org/10.55002/mr.3.2.52. ).

Conclusions

Supplementing Coturnix coturnix japonica with 300 g d^-1 of L. leucocephala or M. oleifera foliage meal maintains productive parameters and carcass composition. Carcass yield improves by 80 %, without modifying protein, ash, pH, or ether extract, resulting in a viable alternative for feed.

Introducción

En México, la producción de aves de corral en 2024 fue de 4 013 215.817 toneladas (SIAP 2024SIAP. Servicio de Información Agroalimentaria y Pesquera. 2024. https://nube.agricultura.gob.mx/cierre_pecuario/ ). El estado de Campeche contribuyó con 0.6 % a la productividad, y aumentó en los últimos cinco años de 22 761.903 a 24 031.919 toneladas. De las especies de aves de corral más criadas y consumidas en Campeche, se encuentra la gallina (Gallus gallus), seguida del pavo (Meleagris gallopavo), principalmente en patios traseros, ya que contribuyen a la economía familiar a través de las ventas (Portillo-Salgado et al. 2018Portillo-Salgado, R., Herrera-Haro, J.G., Ortega-Cerrilla, M.E., Bárcena, G.J.R., Bautista-Ortega, J. & Sánchez, V.A. 2018. Análisis descriptivo de las prácticas locales de cría y manejo del guajolote nativo (Meleagris gallopavo L.) en Campeche, México. Agro Productividad, 11(1): 88-94, ISSN: 2594-0252. https://revista-agroproductividad.org/index.php/agroproductividad/article/view/157. ). En cuanto al consumo de estas aves, los valores oscilan entre 65 y 1.2 kg por año per cápita, aumentando en la temporada de diciembre (Magaña et al. 2022Magaña, M., Valdivieso, P.I. & Aguilar, U.E. 2022. Importancia socioeconómica de las especies pecuarias criadas en traspatio en localidades rurales de Yucatán y Campeche. Acta Universitaria, 32: 1-17, ISSN: 2007-9621. http://doi.org/10.15174.au.2022.3678. ). Tanto el pollo como el pavo son especies de gran interés comercial, pero en las comunidades rurales se requiere una especie prolífica y de rápido crecimiento para satisfacer las necesidades de las familias en poco tiempo. Por lo tanto, la codorniz (C. coturnix japonica) es una opción viable, debido a su temprana producción de huevos, alto valor nutricional en proteínas, vitaminas y minerales, y bajo contenido de colesterol, así como a su rápido crecimiento para el suministro de carne (Saeed et al. 2025Saeed, M., Aslam, F., Khan, M.S., Kamboh, A.A., Farooq, Z., Khan, R.U., Sultan, A.M. & Moryani, A.A. 2025. Nutritional Significance and Health Benefits of Quail's Meat and Eggs: An Empirical Review. Pakistan Journal of Zoology, 57(1): 1-11, ISSN: 3049-5709. https://dx.doi.org/10.17582/journal.pjz/20220507070529. ).

Las prácticas de alimentación para aves de corral comerciales se limitan al consumo de granos y concentrados (Getahun et al. 2025Getahun, A., Kechero, Y., Yemane, N., Dessie, T. & Esatu, W. 2025. Nutritional evaluation and potential of locally available alternative feed resources for sustainable poultry production: a case study of smallholder farms in central and Southern Ethiopia. Tropical Animal Health and Production, 57(7): 317, ISSN: 1573-7438. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11250-025-04549-7. ). Para reducir la dependencia de estos productos, existen diversas estrategias que mantienen o aumentan la eficiencia de producción, como el uso de probióticos (Mulyono 2025Mulyono, M. 2025. Use of Probiotics as an Alternative to Antibiotic Growth Promoters in Poultry Farming: A Review. Journal of Advances in Biology & Biotechnology, 28(6): 1336-1347, ISSN: 2394-1081. https://doi.org/10.9734/jabb/2025/v28i62491. ), Vicia faba L., Pisum sativum, Cicer arietinum L., harina de copra y harina de palmiche (Babatunde et al. 2021Babatunde, O.O., Park, C.S. & Adeola, O. 2021. Nutritional potentials of atypical feed ingredients for broiler chickens and pigs. Animals, 11(5): 1196, ISSN: 2076-2615. https://doi.org/10.3390/ani11051196. ). En años recientes se ha reportado que la inclusión de plantas forrajeras mejora la calidad nutricional en la dieta de las aves (Barbarosa et al. 2022Barbarosa, A.P., Tavakoli, M., Khusro, A., Seidavi, A., Elghandour, M.M., Salem, A.Z., Márquez, M.O., & Rivas, C.R. 2022. Beneficial and adverse effects of medicinal plants as feed supplements in poultry nutrition: A review. Animal Biotechnology, 33(2): 369-391, ISSN: 1532-2378. https://doi.org/10.1080/10495398.2020.1798973. ). Entre las especies forrajeras tropicales, Valdivié-Navarro et al. (2020)Valdivié-Navarro, M., Martínez, Y., Mesa-Fleitas, O., Botello-León, A., Hurtado, C.B. & Velázquez-Martí, B. 2020. Review of Moringa oleifera as forage meal (leaves plus stems) intended for the feeding of non-ruminant animals. Animal Feed Science and Technology, 260: 114338, ISSN: 1873-2216. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anifeedsci.2019.114338. y Faustin-Evaris et al. (2022)Faustin-Evaris, E., Sarmiento-Franco, L.A., Capetillo-Leal, C.M. & Sandoval-Castro, C.A. 2022. Composition of slow-growing male chicken’s meat and bone quality as affected by dietary Moringa oleifera Lam. meal. Animals, 12(24): 3482, ISSN: 2076-2615. https://doi.org/10.3390/ani13081379. mencionan que es favorable incluir M. oleifera en la dieta de las aves, porque incrementa la tasa de conversión del alimento y la digestibilidad de la dieta holística (Egbu et al. 2024Egbu, C.F., Mulaudzi, A., Motsei, L.E. & Mnisi, C.M. 2024. Moringa oleifera products as nutraceuticals for sustainable poultry production. Agriculture & Food Security, 13(1): 54, ISSN: 2048-7010. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40066-024-00508-x. ). Además, esta incorporación de follaje podría mejorar el contenido de ácidos grasos poliinsaturados, la estabilidad oxidativa, el color del músculo pectoral y la grasa abdominal (Cui et al. 2018Cui, Y.M., Wang, J., Lu, W., Zhang, H.J., Wu, S.G. & Qi, G.H. 2018. Effect of dietary supplementation with Moringa oleifera leaf on performance, meat quality, and oxidative stability of meat in broilers. Poultry Science, 97: 2836-2844, ISSN: 1525-3171. https://doi.org/10.3382/ps/pey122. ). De manera similar, se reportan mejoras en la calidad del huevo y en la actividad anti-estrés (Gayathri et al. 2020Gayathri, S., Babu, L. & Panda, A. 2020. Effect of dietary supplementation of Moringa oleifera leaf meal on egg quality, composition and anti-stress activity of Vanaraja laying hens. Indian Journal of Animal Sciences, 90: 207-211, ISSN: 2394-3327. https://doi.org/10.5958/0974-181X.2020.00025.6. ). En este sentido, la inclusión de especies arbustivas como L. leucocephala a niveles bajos en la dieta de gallinas ponedoras ha mostrado resultados prometedores en el aumento de peso, el peso corporal y el consumo de alimento (Utami y Akbar 2025Utami, M.M.D. & Akbar, A. 2025. Enhancing nutrient intake, egg production, and egg quality by fermented Leucaena leucocephala leaf meal in a diet of laying quail. Veterinary World, 18(1): 133, ISSN: 2231-0916. http://doi.org/10.14202/vetworld.2025.133-140. ).

Con respecto al suministro de especies forrajeras en la dieta de las aves, se ha demostrado que la transformación del follaje en harina produce efectos positivos en la salud, la supervivencia, la tasa de crecimiento, la eficiencia en el uso del alimento y mejora la producción de huevos, lo que conlleva un impacto económico positivo, al reducir significativamente los costos de alimentación y producción (Valdivié-Navarro et al. 2020Valdivié-Navarro, M., Martínez, Y., Mesa-Fleitas, O., Botello-León, A., Hurtado, C.B. & Velázquez-Martí, B. 2020. Review of Moringa oleifera as forage meal (leaves plus stems) intended for the feeding of non-ruminant animals. Animal Feed Science and Technology, 260: 114338, ISSN: 1873-2216. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anifeedsci.2019.114338. ). Estos beneficios se observaron en gallinas ponedoras comerciales alimentadas con inclusiones de hasta 6 % de M. oleifera (da Silva et al. 2024da Silva, J.R.V., Rabello, C.B.V., Ludke, M.D., Lopes, C.D.C., de Medeiros-Ventura, W.R.L., Soares, E.D.S. & Oliveira, H.S.D. 2024. Performance and quality of eggs of laying hens fed with Moringa oleifera leaf flour. PloS one, 19(12): e0314905, ISSN: 1932-6203. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0314905. ) y harina fermentada de L. leucocephala (Utami y Akbar 2025Utami, M.M.D. & Akbar, A. 2025. Enhancing nutrient intake, egg production, and egg quality by fermented Leucaena leucocephala leaf meal in a diet of laying quail. Veterinary World, 18(1): 133, ISSN: 2231-0916. http://doi.org/10.14202/vetworld.2025.133-140. ), sin causar efectos negativos en el rendimiento o la calidad del huevo. A pesar de los resultados alentadores obtenidos en aves, existen pocos estudios sobre el desempeño productivo de C. coturnix al incluir estas especies de follaje en la dieta. Por lo tanto, el objetivo de esta investigación fue evaluar los parámetros productivos y la composición de la canal de Coturnix coturnix japonica alimentadas con L. leucocephala y M. oleifera.

Materiales y Métodos

Área de estudio: El trabajo se llevó a cabo en las instalaciones avícolas del Colegio de Postgraduados, Campus Campeche, ubicado en 19°29'51.79" N y 90° 32'45.01" O, en Sihochac, Champotón, México (INEGI 2017INEGI. Instituto Nacional de Estadística y Geografía. 2017. Anuario estadístico y geográfico de Campeche. Campeche, México. Available at: https://www.inegi.org.mx/contenido/productos/prod_serv/contenidos/espanol/bvinegi/productos/nueva_estruc/anuarios_2017/702825095109.pdf. ), con una temperatura anual de 26 °C y a 24 msnm (García 2004García, E. 2004. Modificaciones al sistema de clasificación climática de Köppen. Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. México. Pp. 97. Available at: http://www.publicaciones.igg.unam.mx/index.php/ig/catalog/book/83. ).

Manejo de animales y diseño del tratamiento: Un total de 270 codornices de 18 días de edad con un peso corporal promedio de 19 g se distribuyeron aleatoriamente en tres tratamientos, con tres repeticiones (jaulas) por tratamiento y 30 aves por jaula. Los tratamientos se clasificaron como ACOM = Alimento Comercial (600 g d^-1 por repetición=1800 g d^-1), MO: M. oleifera molida (300 g d^-1 por repetición = 900 g d^-1) + ACOM (300 g d^-1 por repetición = 900 g d^-1) y LEU: L. leucocephala molida (300 g d^-1 por repetición = 900 g d^-1) + ACOM (300 g d^-1 por repetición = 900 g d^-1).

El período experimental duró 84 días, más un período de adaptación de cinco días. Las aves fueron alojadas en jaulas con un área de 0.67 m² por codorniz, que incluían bebederos tipo copa para agua y comederos de PVC. Los animales se trataron de acuerdo con las directrices y regulaciones para la experimentación animal del Colegio de Postgraduados (COLPOS 2019COLPOS. Colegio de Postgraduados. 2019. Reglamento para el uso y cuidado de animales destinados a la investigación. Available at: http://www.colpos.mx/wb_pdf/norma_interna/ruc_animalesinvestigacion.pdf. ), con la aprobación oficial CCACC2017-069 y siguiendo las directrices de manejo y bienestar animal del NRC (2010)NRC. National Research Council. 2010. Guide for the care and use of laboratory animals: Eighth Edition. National Academies Press. Washington, DC. USA. Pp. 246. https://grants.nih.gov/grants/olaw/guide-for-the-care-and-use-of-laboratory-animals.pdf. .

Recolección de follaje y composición química: Las hojas de M. oleifera se recolectaron de un huerto de cinco años, ubicado en la Facultad de Medicina Veterinaria y Zootecnia de la Universidad Autónoma de Yucatán, México. Las hojas de L. leucocephala se recolectaron de un huerto de cuatro años en el Colegio de Postgraduados. El follaje se secó al sol por 48 horas, se trituró con un molinillo Bomeri® modelo PD65RM que tiene dos tolvas y un tamiz de 3 mm. Posteriormente, el follaje se cortó y tamizó con una malla de tamaño 7 hasta obtener una textura similar a la harina.

El contenido de proteína cruda (PC) se calculó según el método de Kjeldahl, el extracto etéreo (EE) se cuantificó mediante el método de Soxhlet, el contenido de cenizas se determinó por el método de combustión, la fibra detergente ácida (FDA) y la fibra detergente neutra (FDN) se determinaron con el método AOAC (2019)AOAC. 2019. Official Methods of Analysis of the Association of Official Analytical Chemists: Official Methods of Analysis of AOAC International. 21st Edition, AOAC, Washington, DC.. Para la energía bruta (EB) se utilizó un calorímetro de bomba adiabático (Parr-328, Parr Instruments Co., IL, EE.UU.) (AOAC 2019AOAC. 2019. Official Methods of Analysis of the Association of Official Analytical Chemists: Official Methods of Analysis of AOAC International. 21st Edition, AOAC, Washington, DC.). Las dietas cumplieron con los requerimientos nutricionales de codornices de 19 días de edad (NRC 1994NRC. National Research Council. 1994. Nutrient Requirements of Poultry: Ninth Revised Edition. National Academies Press. Washington, DC. USA. Pp. 110-112.) (tabla 1).

Consumo de alimento, ganancia de peso diaria, ganancia de peso final y conversión alimenticia: El consumo de alimento (materia seca: MS) de cada tratamiento se midió diariamente pesando el alimento ofrecido y restando la cantidad rechazada, en una báscula digital Torrey® de 20 kg. Para evaluar la ganancia de peso corporal y el peso corporal final, se pesaron todas las aves de cada tratamiento cada siete días durante 12 semanas, tras un periodo previo de ayuno. La conversión alimenticia (CA) se calculó con el consumo medio de alimento, dividido entre la ganancia media de peso corporal de cada tratamiento.

Composición de la canal de codorniz: Al final del experimento, se seleccionaron 30 aves al azar por tratamiento, las cuales se sometieron a ayuno de 12 horas para minimizar la interferencia del contenido intestinal con el peso de los animales. Estas se sacrificaron humanamente de acuerdo con las directrices de Bienestar Animal del Colegio de Postgraduados (COLPOS 2019COLPOS. Colegio de Postgraduados. 2019. Reglamento para el uso y cuidado de animales destinados a la investigación. Available at: http://www.colpos.mx/wb_pdf/norma_interna/ruc_animalesinvestigacion.pdf. ), con aprobación oficial CCACC2017-069, basadas en la Norma Oficial Mexicana NOM-033-SAG/ZOO-2014Norma Oficial Mexicana NOM-033-SAG/ZOO-2014. Métodos para dar muerte a los animales domésticos y silvestres. Estado de México, México. Available at: https://www.gob.mx/profepa/documentos/norma-oficial-mexicana-nom-033-sag-zoo-2014-metodos-para-dar-muerte-a-los-animales-domesticos-y-silvestres.. Después de retirar las partes no comestibles (plumas, patas, cabeza), se pesaron la canal, la piel, la carne, los huesos y las vísceras, en una balanza analítica (260 g x 0.0001 g) modelo ADVENTURER PRO AV264C O' HAUS. El rendimiento de la canal y los porcentajes de rendimiento se calcularon mediante la siguiente fórmula:

Composición química de la carne: Después de que se sacrificaron los animales, las muestras de carne de cada tratamiento se homogeneizaron para determinar el pH, utilizando un medidor de pH Oakton EcoTestr pH®. Se evaluó PC mediante el método de Kjeldahl, y se midió ceniza y EE con la metodología establecida por la AOAC (2019)AOAC. 2019. Official Methods of Analysis of the Association of Official Analytical Chemists: Official Methods of Analysis of AOAC International. 21st Edition, AOAC, Washington, DC..

Análisis estadístico: Se analizaron el consumo de alimento, la ganancia de peso diaria, la ganancia de peso final, conversión alimenticia, composición de la canal de codorniz (canal, piel, carne, huesos y vísceras) y la composición química de la carne (pH, PC, ceniza y EE) mediante un diseño completamente al azar. La comparación de medias se realizó según la prueba múltiple de Tukey con el software Statistica v7.1 (StatSoft 2005Statsoft. 2005. Inc. Statistica (data analysis software system) Version 7.1.). La variabilidad de los datos se expresó como el error estándar (SE) y el nivel de significación de p≤0.05 se consideró como estadísticamente significativo.

Resultados y Discusión

Consumo total de alimento, ganancia de peso diaria, ganancia de peso final y conversión alimenticia: El consumo de harina de follaje (p≤0.05) y la ganancia de peso final (p≤0.05) de C. coturnix fueron mayores en el grupo que consumió alimento comercial (ACOM) que en los grupos alimentados con MO y LEU. Las ganancias diarias de peso corporal (p≤0.05) fueron mayores en los tratamientos alimentados con dietas ACOM y MO en comparación con LEU. La relación de conversión alimenticia fue mayor en las aves alimentadas con la dieta LEU (p≤0.05), pero este parámetro fue similar en ambos grupos de aves, ACOM y MO (tabla 2).

Los pesos corporales finales registrados en los tratamientos MO y LEU son similares a los que reportaron Perdomo et al. (2019)Perdomo, D.A., Briceño, A., Díaz, D., González, D., González, L., Moratinos, P.A., Nuñez, E. & Perea, F.P. 2019. Efecto de la suplementación dietética con harina de morera (Morus alba) sobre el desempeño productivo de codornices (Coturnix coturnix japonica) en crecimiento. Revista de Investigaciones Veterinarias del Perú, 30(2): 634-644, ISSN: 1609-9117. http://dx.doi.org/10.15381/rivep.v30i2.15088. , alcanzando pesos corporales finales de 147 g en promedio, en codornices de un día con peso inicial de 7.3 g y suplementos con follaje de Morus alba, y harina de hoja de yuca, estas aumentaron de peso y la conversión alimenticia con 176.4 y 3.04 g, respectivamente (Silva et al. 2017Silva, J.P., Valerio, L.S., Quintao, L.G., Lira, S.L., Castro, T.E. & Silva, F.T. 2017. Cassava foliage in quail feeding. Acta Veterinária Brasilica, 11: 150-156, ISSN: 1981-5484. https://doi.org/10.21708/avb.2017.11.0.6921. ). Asimismo, cuando se ofrece 14 % de M. oleifera en la dieta de C. coturnix, incrementan el rendimiento de la canal en un 61 % (Castillo et al. 2018Castillo, L., Portillo, L., León, F., Gutiérrez, D., Angulo, E., Muy-Rangel, M. & Heredia J. 2018. Inclusion of Moringa Leaf Powder (Moringa oleifera) in Fodder for Feeding Japanese Quail (Coturnix coturnix japonica). Brazilian Journal of Poultry Science, 1: 15-18, ISSN: 1806-9061. https://doi.org/10.1590/1806-9061-2017-0410. ), mejorando la utilización de nutrientes y el desempeño productivo (Manju y Bidhan 2025aManju, L. & Bidhan, C. M. 2025a. Effect of dietary incorporation of drumstick (Moringa oleifera Lam.) leaf meal on production performance, nutrient utilization and feed cost economics of laying japanese quail (Coturnix coturnix japonica). Journal of Scientific Research and Reports, 31(5): 223-241, ISSN: 2320-0227. https://doi.org/10.9734/jsrr/2025/v31i53020. ).

Con respecto a la dieta que contenía L. leucocephala, fue el follaje que menos consumieron, posiblemente debido a la presencia de mimosina u otro metabolito que puede causar efectos adversos (Bageel et al. 2020Bageel, A., Honda, M.D.H., Carrillo, J.T. & Borthakur, D. 2020. Giant leucaena (Leucaena leucocephala subsp. glabrata): a versatile tree-legume for sustainable agroforestry. Agroforestry Systems, 94: 251-268, ISSN: 1572-9680. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10457-019-00392-6. ). Por ejemplo, en pollos de ceba, alimentados con dietas suplementadas con harina de hojas de la leguminosa Acacia angustissima, se observó una disminución cuadrática en el peso corporal final, el consumo de alimento y la ganancia de peso diaria (Gudiso et al. 2019Gudiso, X., Hlatini, V., Chimonyo, M. & Mafongoya, P. 2019. Response of broiler (Gallus gallus domesticus) performance and carcass traits to increasing levels of Acacia angustissima leaf meal as a partial replacement of standard protein sources. Journal of Applied Poultry Research, 28: 13-22, ISSN: 1537-0437. https://doi.org/10.3382/japr/pfx068. ), y en codornices, la inclusión de 4 a 8 % de harina de leucaena fermentada mejora la ingesta de nutrientes, la relación de conversión alimenticia y la producción de huevos (Utami y Akbar 2025Utami, M.M.D. & Akbar, A. 2025. Enhancing nutrient intake, egg production, and egg quality by fermented Leucaena leucocephala leaf meal in a diet of laying quail. Veterinary World, 18(1): 133, ISSN: 2231-0916. http://doi.org/10.14202/vetworld.2025.133-140. ). Por lo tanto, la incorporación de harina de leucaena hasta un 10 % de la dieta puede ser una opción viable para la alimentación de codornices, en comparación con una dieta estrictamente comercial.

Composición de la canal: Se observó que las aves del grupo ACOM obtuvieron el mayor peso de canal (p≤0.05) y peso óseo (p≤0.05), y el menor peso de vísceras (p≤0.05), en comparación con el resto de los tratamientos. Los pesos de vísceras y canal en aves de los tratamientos MO y LEU fueron similares, mientras que LEU mostró el menor peso óseo. No se observaron diferencias en el peso de la carne y la piel entre los tratamientos (tabla 3).

Al usar otros suplementos como Tenebrio molitor, Zophobas morio, en una proporción de 1 a 2 g/kg o extracto acuoso de canela (1.5 mL/L), en codornices, se obtuvo un peso de canal de 128-133 g (Khan et al. 2022Khan, S., Tanweer, A.J., Rafiullah, I., Abbas, G., Khan, J., Imran, M.S. & Kamboh, A.A. 2022. Effect of supplementation of mealworm scales (Tenebrio molitor) on growth performance, carcass traits and histomorphology of Japanese quails. Journal of Animal Health and Production, 10(3): 381-389, ISSN: 2308-2801. http://dx.doi.org/10.17582/journal.jahp/2022/10.3.381.389. , Al-Khalaifah et al. 2025Al-Khalaifah, H., Ahmad, S., Ullah, R., Islam, Z., Sultan, A., Islam, Z., Abudabos, A., Naz, S., Khan, R.U. & Alhidary, I.A. 2025. Effects of Tenebrio molitor and Zophobas morio larvae meal Supplementation on Growth Performance, Carcass Traits, and Gut Histomorphology in Japanese Quails. Poultry Science, 104(2): 105803, ISSN: 1525-3171. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psj.2025.105803. e Isam et al. 2025Isam, O., AL-Doori, A.D., Al-Doori, A.A., Aldarraji, S.A. & Qais, A.S. 2025. Effect of aqueous extract of garlic, cinnamon and their mixture on the productive performance and carcass characteristics of Japanese quail. International Journal of Veterinary Sciences and Animal Husbandry, 10(1): 273-282, ISSN: 2456-2912. http://www.veterinarypaper.com. ), similar al valor encontrado en este estudio.

Un aumento elevado en el peso de la canal y los huesos en el tratamiento ACOM puede revelar un alto contenido de grasa o colágeno, que generalmente se ve afectado por factores como la especie, la edad y el plan nutricional. En esta investigación, el bajo peso de los huesos en el tratamiento LEU se atribuye a la inclusión del 50 % de harina de follaje de leucaena, que proporciona una mayor cantidad de fibra y una digestibilidad deficiente en el tracto digestivo, incrementando la excreción de nutrientes, incluido el calcio. Además, las canales de las aves suplementadas con harina de follaje de moringa y leucaena presentaron el mayor rendimiento de canal, con 80 y 90 %, respectivamente. En este sentido, Castillo et al. (2018)Castillo, L., Portillo, L., León, F., Gutiérrez, D., Angulo, E., Muy-Rangel, M. & Heredia J. 2018. Inclusion of Moringa Leaf Powder (Moringa oleifera) in Fodder for Feeding Japanese Quail (Coturnix coturnix japonica). Brazilian Journal of Poultry Science, 1: 15-18, ISSN: 1806-9061. https://doi.org/10.1590/1806-9061-2017-0410. registraron aumento en el peso de las canales de C. coturnix, alcanzando hasta el 61 % del rendimiento de la canal, con dietas suplementadas con 14 % de polvo de M. oleífera. Mientras que la incorporación de valores menores como: 1, 3, 5, 7 y 9 % de harina de hojas de moringa en la dieta de C. coturnix japonica no afectó el peso de la canal, vísceras, pescuezo, espalda, ala, muslo, contramuslo y pechuga, sin embargo, el 3 % de la harina mejoró la relación carne-hueso (Manju y Bidhan 2025bManju, L. & Bidhan, C.M. 2025b. Effect of supplementing moringa oleifera leaf powder and vitamins C and E on carcass characteristics of japanese quail. European Journal of Nutrition & Food Safety, 17(4): 140-149, ISSN: 2347-5641. https://doi.org/10.9734/ejnfs/2025/v17i41686. ). Algunos estudios indican que el aumento de la inclusión de leguminosas como Tylosema esculentum en dietas para codornices disminuyó la ganancia de peso corporal (Fatoki et al. 2023Fatoki, M.F., Kiarie, E.G. & Mnisi, C.M. 2023. Jumbo quail responses to diets containing raw or heat-treated Marama bean (Tylosema esculentum) meal. Translational Animal Science, 7(1): 1-10, ISSN: 2573-2102. https://doi.org/10.1093/tas/txad136. ).

Composición química de la carne: No se encontró ningún efecto de la alimentación en la composición química de la carne para ninguno de los tratamientos (tabla 4).

Los valores de pH obtenidos en la presente investigación son similares a los reportados en codornices alimentadas con dietas con Brassica napus añadida en niveles de 2.5 a 17.5 %, con valores de pH de 6.38 a 6.56 (Mnisi y Mlambo 2018Mnisi, C.M. & Mlambo, V. 2018. Growth performance, haematology, serum biochemistry and meat quality characteristics of Japanese quail (Coturnix coturnix japonica) fed canola meal-based diets. Animal Nutrition, 4: 37-43, ISSN: 2405-6383. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aninu.2017.08.011. ), así como en la carne de pollos de ceba alimentados con harina de hojas de M. oleifera, con valores de 5.45 a 6.40 (Cui et al. 2018Cui, Y.M., Wang, J., Lu, W., Zhang, H.J., Wu, S.G. & Qi, G.H. 2018. Effect of dietary supplementation with Moringa oleifera leaf on performance, meat quality, and oxidative stability of meat in broilers. Poultry Science, 97: 2836-2844, ISSN: 1525-3171. https://doi.org/10.3382/ps/pey122. ). Sin embargo, en codornices suplementadas con harina de comino negro y harina de hojas de noni, el pH de la carne es más ácido (5.80 y 5.90) (Dengan y Kombinasi 2024Dengan, P.K.B.P. & Kombinasi, P.T. 2024. Quail Carcass Performance Using Additional Feed Combination of Noni Leaf Flour and Black Cumin Flour. Journal of Applied Veterinary Science and Technology, 5(2): 109-114, ISSN: 2716-117X. http://doi/10.20473/javest.V5.I2.2024.109-114. ). El contenido de cenizas en el estudio osciló entre 4.92 y 5.0 %, siendo superior a los reportados en diferentes líneas de codorniz y palomas, con cantidades de 1.29 a 2.26 % (Lukanov et al. 2023Lukanov, H., Pavlova, I., Genchev, A., Penkov, D., Peltekov, A. & Mihaylova, G. 2023. Quality and composition of meat in different productive types of domestic quail. Journal of Central European Agriculture, 24(2): 322-339, ISSN: 1332-9049. http://dx.doi.org/10.5513/JCEA01/24.2.3871. y Muraduzzaman et al. 2023Muraduzzaman, M., Ahammed, M., Habib, M., Azad, M., Hashem, M. & Ali, M. 2023. Comparison of meat yield and quality characteristics between pigeon and quail. Meat Research, 3(2): 1-6, ISSN: 2790-1971. https://doi.org/10.55002/mr.3.2.52. ).

Con respecto a la proteína, los valores observados en el presente trabajo son inferiores a los informados por Sabow (2020)Sabow, A.B. 2020. Carcass characteristics, physicochemical attributes, and fatty acid and amino acid compositions of meat obtained from different Japanese quail strains. Tropical Animal Health and Production, 52: 131-140, ISSN: 1573-7438. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11250-019-01991-2. , donde el promedio fue de 22.52 g/100 g en tres especies de codornices alimentadas con dietas comerciales, así como en líneas de codornices especializadas, de doble propósito y de tipo europeo con promedios de 21.24, 21.65 y 20.08 % (Lukanov et al. 2023Lukanov, H., Pavlova, I., Genchev, A., Penkov, D., Peltekov, A. & Mihaylova, G. 2023. Quality and composition of meat in different productive types of domestic quail. Journal of Central European Agriculture, 24(2): 322-339, ISSN: 1332-9049. http://dx.doi.org/10.5513/JCEA01/24.2.3871. ), y en palomas y codornices de ceba con 19.18 y 24.40 % (Muraduzzaman et al. 2023Muraduzzaman, M., Ahammed, M., Habib, M., Azad, M., Hashem, M. & Ali, M. 2023. Comparison of meat yield and quality characteristics between pigeon and quail. Meat Research, 3(2): 1-6, ISSN: 2790-1971. https://doi.org/10.55002/mr.3.2.52. ). Finalmente, el porcentaje de extracto etéreo fue mayor que los registrados en diferentes líneas de codorniz con rangos de 1.86 a 6.06 (Lukanov et al. 2023Lukanov, H., Pavlova, I., Genchev, A., Penkov, D., Peltekov, A. & Mihaylova, G. 2023. Quality and composition of meat in different productive types of domestic quail. Journal of Central European Agriculture, 24(2): 322-339, ISSN: 1332-9049. http://dx.doi.org/10.5513/JCEA01/24.2.3871. y Muraduzzaman et al. 2023Muraduzzaman, M., Ahammed, M., Habib, M., Azad, M., Hashem, M. & Ali, M. 2023. Comparison of meat yield and quality characteristics between pigeon and quail. Meat Research, 3(2): 1-6, ISSN: 2790-1971. https://doi.org/10.55002/mr.3.2.52. ).

Conclusiones

La suplementación con 300 g/d de harina de follaje de L. leucocephala o M. oleifera en Coturnix coturnix japonica mantiene los parámetros productivos y la composición de la canal de estos animales. El rendimiento de la canal mejora un 80 %, sin modificar la proteína, las cenizas, el pH ni el extracto etéreo, lo que resulta en una alternativa viable para la alimentación.