Responses of quail to dietary Vitamin E and zinc picolinate at different environmental temperatures

Abstract The effects of Vitamin E ( dl -α-tocopheryl acetate) and zinc picolinate (ZnPic 2 ) supplementation on performance, carcass quality, serum malondialdehyde (MDA) as lipid peroxidation indicator, Vitamins C and E, zinc and cholesterol concentrations in the Japanese quail ( Coturnix coturnix japonica ) exposed to high ambient temperature were evaluated. Two hundred and seventy 10-day-old Japanese quails were randomly assigned to nine treatment groups, three replicates of 10 birds each in a 2×3×3 factorial arrangement of treatments. Birds were kept in a temperature-controlled room at either 22 °C (Thermo-neutral, TN) or 34 °C (Heat stress, HS) for 8 h/d (09.00 am–05.00 pm and fed a basal (control) diet or the basal diet supplemented with either three levels of Vitamin E (0, 125 and 250 mg of dl -α-tocopheryl acetate/kg of diet) or three levels of zinc (0, 30 and 60 mg of zinc picolinate/kg of diet). Birds kept at high ambient temperature 34 °C consumed less feed intake and gained less weight (P