2. Methods and materials
2.1. Animals
Forty five-d-old 150 Japanese quails (Coturnix coturnix japanica) obtained from Bingol
Collage Division of Firat University were used in the study. The experiment was in
accordance with animal welfare and ethics, and was conducted under protocols approved by
the Veterinary Control and Research Institute of Elazig, Turkey.
2.2. Experimental design
The birds were fed either a basal diet containing 17.65% CP and 2780 kcal/kg ME or the
control diet supplemented with either 200 g of Cr/kg of diet, 400 g of Cr/kg of diet, 800
g of Cr/kg of diet or 1200 g of Cr/kg of diet. The basal diet was formulated using NRC
guidelines (USA) [14] and contained 1285.96 g of Cr/kg of diet. Chromium Picolinate
(CrPic) was used as Cr source. Ingredients and chemical composition of the basal diet are
shown in Table 1.