Aspergillosis is an important infectious fungal disease,caused the genus of Aspergillus that affects humans, mammals, and mainly wild or domestic birds. The following case report describes a clinical case of aspergillosis in a quail flock. A thousand flocks breeding quail originated from a hatchery located in Iran, in late spring, from the age of one week, have been encountered with breathing difficulties. The daily mortality of infected chicks was 20-30 chicks (total of 50%). The most prevalent clinical signs were respiratory symptoms such as dyspnea, open beak breathing, and increased respiration. Other clinical signs included depression, anorexia, decreasing weight, and in some stance cyanosis. The large number of white caseous nodules with an average diameter of 1-3 μ, m, often in the lungs and also in the liver, mesenteric intestine vessels, muscles of the chest, and heart were observed. Lungs, beak cavity, pharynx, and air sacs frequently consisted of the caseous nodules. The large numbers of germinating conidia centrally and hyphae extending peripherally through the layer of macrophages were found on the granulomas stained by Gomori’, s methenamine silver. In some other tissue samples, conidiophores of A. fumigatus, and conidial heads were formed. Mycological examination of the postmortem samples demonstrated A. fumigatus. Poor husbandry, ventilation, and sanitation were common conditions that predispose quails to aspergillosis in the present report.

Although quail farming is still in its infancy in Africa, it is commonly practiced in Asia, with China producing about 38% of global production. About 10% of the world’s egg production comes from quail, while their meat represents about 0.2% of the global poultry meat production. This review presents the status of quail farming in Africa and highlights the sub-sector’s challenges and opportunities. Quail farming is one of the least exploited poultry sub-sectors on the African continent; hence, there is limited production and consumption data. The consumption of quail meat and eggs is still low in Africa, but these have the potential to flourish as people become more aware of their nutritional and health benefits. As an evolving industry with great potential, quail farming faces many challenges, including a lack of access to markets, lack of access to credit, inadequate extension support, unavailability of specific quail feeds, and poor housing. Many opportunities exist in feed manufacturing, expanding existing hatcheries and establishing new ones, establishing breeding and rearing facilities, and further processing of quail meat and eggs. Some potential identified challenges include intensifying farmer education, forming cooperative societies to improve market access, developing support programs to encourage farmers to venture into quail farming, and investing in affordable and durable housing to mitigate theft, predation and escaping. We conclude that African governments should consider encouraging quail farming, as it has the potential to play an important role in income generation, job creation and food and nutrition security.

This study was conducted to investigate the effect of different levels of sesame meal (SM) on performance and carcass characteristics of Japanese quail. One hundred sixty day-old Japanese quail chick were equally distributed into 16 cage pens and reared form 10 to 42 days of age. The treatments consisted of SM0, SM50, SM100 and SM150. The diet for SM0 treatment had no SM (control), while those for treatments SM50, SM100 and SM150 included 50, 100 and 150 g/kg of SM, respectively. Each dietary treatment was fed ad libitum to four replicate groups of 10 birds at the beginning of experimental period. Chicks and feed were weighed on days 10, 24 and 42 and carcass characteristics were measured on day 42. Results indicated that daily weight gain, feed intake and feed efficiency were not significantly affected by experimental treatments. However, diet containing 150 g/kg SM improved the weight gain and feed conversion ratio of Japanese quail, numerically. The highest carcass weight was recorded for quails fed SM50. As well as, diets containing SM increased more the weight of gizzard and intestinal than control diet (P<0.05). Thus, SM can be used as an alternative feedstuff in Japanese quail diets, at inclusion levels up to 150 g/kg without negative effects on performance and carcass traits.

Helicobacter pylori(H. pylori) is a gram-negative, microaerophilic bacterium that cause the stomach infection in more than 50% of human population worldwide. The aim of this study was to examine the possibility of anti- H. pylori immunoglobulins Y (IgYs) production in quails and evaluate the effect of the different methods of immunization on titers of IgY in egg yolks. Whole cell bacterial antigen was used for immunization of quails. Forty Japanese quails (Coturnix japonica) were divided into four groups. The first group intramuscularly immunized with one dose of antigen (3 × 108 inactivated bacteria) whereas the second group injected with half dose. Third group administered orally. Yolk IgY was isolated using precipitation method of water dilution combined with chloroform. Dot-blot and ELISA (enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay) were used for determining the specificity and quantifying the titer of IgY in egg yolks. Results showed that quails as well as chickens are able to produce anti- H. pylori IgY. Quails antibodies have high titer and specificity that can be used in therapeutic and research purposes. This study indicated that higher amounts of antigen can not develop higher titer of IgY and injection is not necessary for efficient immunization of the quail against H. pylori.