Rastreabilidade de farinhas de origem animal em ovos de codornas por meio de isótopos estáveis de carbono e nitrogênio

The objective of this work was to detect the inclusion of animal meal in Japanese quail ( Coturnix coturnix japonica ) diets, by analyzing eggs and their fractions (albumen and yolk) through the technique of carbon ( 13 C/ 12 C) and nitrogen ( 15 N/ 14 N) stable isotopes. Four hundred and thirty-two Japanese quails, 45-day-old females, were distributed in a completely randomized experimental design, in eight treatments: T1, strictly vegetable diet (VEG), with corn ( Zea mays ) and soybean ( Glycine max ) meal; T2, bovine meat and bone meal (BM); T3, poultry viscera meal (OM); T4, feather meal (FM); T5, BM+OM; T6, BM+FM; T7, OM+FM; and T8, BM+OM+FM. Sixteen eggs were randomly collected from each treatment – eight for whole egg analysis and eight for separate yolk and albumen analyses. To determine the turnover rate, the exponential isotope dilution model was used. The application of C and N stable isotopes allows identifying the use of animal meal in coded diets through the analysis of whole eggs and their fractions, which suggests that this technique is a promising tool for the traceability and certification of products of animal origin.