author(s)
B Deepika, V Leela, G Suganya, S Ezhil Valavan and R Nivethitha

abstract
The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of feed supplement contained Earthworm meal on small intestinal physiology and morphometry of Japanese quail (Coturnix coturnix Japonica). An experiment was carried out at Madras Veterinary College in 240 numbers of day old Japanese quails in randomized design with four different dietary supplements viz G1 (0 %), G2 (50 %), G3 (75 %) and G4 (100 %) earthworm meal as replacement for fish meal during 6 weeks of experiment periods. All the animals were randomly divided into four groups with 60 animals in each group (20 animals in each replicate). Proximate analysis of earth worm meal showed that it contains crude protein of 29.49%. Variable measured were intestinal PH, Intestinal enzymes and intestinal morphology. There was no significant change in amylase and lipase activity between groups. At the end of study G4 (32.65± 1.56 IU/ml) showed higher crypt width (P<0.05) compared to other groups G1 (28.10± 1.28 IU/ml), G2 (28.96 ± 1.91 IU/ml) and G3 (30.63 ± 2.85 IU/ml). Among the four groups, G4(140.76 ± 4.90 IU/ml) and G3(137.25 ± 3.08 IU/ml) showed significant increase in trypsin activity in the present study. The results showed that inclusion of earth worm meal at 75% and 100% as a replacement of fish meal significantly increased the intestinal physiology and morphology of Japanese quail compared to control group at 3^rd and 6^th weeks respectively. It is concluded that replacement of fishmeal with earth worm meal may be the ideal alternate protein source for better growth performance in Japanese quail.