The Potential of Red Propolis to Improve the Quality of Quail Eggs

ABSTRACT This study investigated the effects of dietary aqueous extract of red propolis (AERP) on the performance, egg quality, antioxidant capacity, and fecal microbiota of laying quails. A total of 120 52-day-old laying quails were randomly divided into four dietary treatments, each consisting of six replicates of 5 animals. The dietary treatments were a control basal diet and basal diets with of 1g of AERP, 2g of AERP, and 0.01g of enramycin per kg of feed for 63 days. Productive performance results such as percentage of egg production, feed intake per quail per day, average egg weight, egg mass, and feed conversion rate showed no significant difference between treatments. On the other hand, eggs from quails fed with red propolis showed darker yolk, higher intensity of red, and lower intensity of yellow (p