Enhancement of Quails’ (Coturnix japonica domestica) Meat Quality: Effects of Dietary Supplementation of Dried Bergamot Pulp

Bergamot-derived products have gained increasing interest as dietary supplements in small animal nutrition, due to their potential to improve meat quality, and provide functional bioactive compounds. This paper investigated the effects of feeding dried bergamot pulp on performance and meat quality in Japanese quails. 140 quails aging 15 days were divided into two groups of 70 quail each (7 replicates of 10 quails for group) and fed, for three weeks, a basal diet (control group) or the basal diet in which part of the maize was replaced with 10% of dried bergamot pulp (BP10 group). The integration of dried bergamot pulp (BP) reduced dry matter i ntake, a verage d aily g ain, a nd consequently final body weight compared to control treatment. Quails from BP10 group showed the highest feed conversion ratio. The BP10 treatment tended to increase eicosapentaenoic acid and ω-3 PUFA. The inclusion of bergamot pulp in quail diet did not alter the TBARS value in meat. Color analysis showed that the integration of bergamot into the quail diet led to higher lightness (L*) and yellow index (b*) values compared to the control group. This study demonstrates that dietary supplementation with 10% of BP to quails led to a reduction in dry matter i ntake ( DMI) a nd consequently in average daily gain (ADG) in quails. However, a positive trend toward an increase in ω-3 fatty acids has been observed.