One hundred and eighty, one day old Japanese Quail chicks were randomly assigned into three equal groups, each of 60 chicks to investigate their growth performance, leg problems, breast blisters and airborne dust particulates as well as the litter conditions affected by raising birds on some litters composed of different materials during the period from 0 to 8 weeks of age. Chicks in the first group (control; C) were raised on shopped wheat straw litter, while those in the second and third groups (L1 and L2) were raised on mixed litters composed of 25% of each of rice hulls, wheat straw, wood sawdust and clay as well as on 20 % of each of rice hulls, wheat straw, wood sawdust and 40 % clay, respectively. All birds were raised under similar environmental, managerial and hygienic conditions.
The achieved results revealed that birds of the control (C), L1 and L2 groups had almost similar body weight, feed consumption and feed conversion values, while birds of L1 group had significantly (P≤0.05) higher body weight gain and less leg problems, breast blisters, mortality percentages as compared to those of C and L2 groups. There were only very limited differences in the litter moisture percentage, bacterial count, airborne organic dust particulates and ammonia concentrations among the tested litter types.
The economic efficiency (EE), in relation to the use of the litter type exceeded remarkably in the L1than those of C and L2 groups. Therefore, the use of the clay at a level of 25% as a component of the litter for growing Japanese quail is highly recommended to achieve good growth performance coincided with adequate litter conditions and airborne dust particulates