Body and abdominal fat weight reduction upon feed withdrawal in coturnix quail

Coturnix quail are used for human consumption, and loss of live weight prior to slaughter must be minimized. Feed, but not water, was withdrawn from 49-day-old, male Coturnix quail for times (treatments) of 0, 6, 12, 24, and 48 hr. Number of quail per treatment ranged from 24 to 26. Body weight decreased as length of feed withdrawal increased, but the difference between treatments 12 and 24 was not significant (P greater than .05). The largest loss in abdominal fat weight (1.10 g) and percentage abdominal fat of body weight (.91%) was between Treatments 0 and 48. The lack of significance (P greater than .05) among Treatments 0, 12, and 24 indicates stability of abdominal fat during 24-hr feed withdrawal. These results indicate that body weight is affected more than abdominal fat weight by feed withdrawal in processing quail.