To evaluate the use of rations with different corn and soybean meal eparticle size in productive performance, 384 Japanese quails in laying period with 13 weeks of age were allotted to laying cages. The traits consisted of different particle size of diets according to grinding size of corn (C) and soybean meal (SBM), with the use of sieve diameter of 1/8, 2/8 inches or 6 mm resulting in a GMD of 1420, 1161 and 1047 mm, respectively, and for soybean meal with no grinder passage and one time passage, resulting in a 1,181 and 700 mm of GMD. The completely randomized design was used, in a factorial scheme 3 x 2 (grinding levels of corn x grinding levels of soybean meal), four replications with 16 birds each. The particle size of soybean meal influenced the GMD of the experimental rations that ranged from 1737 to 1153 mm. Egg production, feed intake, feed conversion (kg/kg) and feed:egg ratio and egg weight did not differ among the treatments. The use of different particle sizes of corn and soybean meal did not affect laying quails performance and its use depends on the processing costs.
Japanese quails; particle size; rations; egg production
