Study points to olive leaf powder as quail feed additive

Growing Japanese quail fed diets supplemented with olive leaf powder had better body weight, carcass yield, antioxidant markers, and a more favorable cecal bacterial profile in a newly published Frontiers in Veterinary Science study. The research team assigned 375 one-day-old quail chicks to five groups, including a control and diets containing 3%, 4%, 5%, or 6% olive leaf powder over six weeks. The strongest effects were reported in the 6% group, including higher live body weight, improved edible meat yield, lower total cholesterol, triglycerides, LDL, and VLDL, higher HDL, stronger antioxidant activity, and higher Lactobacillus counts alongside lower coliforms, E. coli, and Salmonella. The paper was published May 22, 2026, and positions olive leaf powder as a natural growth-promoting feed additive candidate for quail production. (frontiersin.org)

Why it matters: For veterinary professionals working in poultry health, nutrition, and production medicine, the study adds to the growing body of evidence around phytogenic feed additives as alternatives to conventional growth-promoting inputs. A broader 2023 review in Frontiers in Veterinary Science found olive-derived co-products have shown antimicrobial, antioxidant, and performance-related benefits in monogastric species, including reduced coliforms and increased lactobacilli in broilers, which gives this quail-specific paper some biological plausibility. Still, this remains an early-stage feeding study from a single experimental setting, so the findings are more hypothesis-building than practice-changing, especially because dose, formulation, economics, and reproducibility under commercial conditions still need to be clarified. (frontiersin.org)

What to watch: Whether follow-up studies validate the apparent 6% inclusion advantage, quantify cost-effectiveness, and test whether olive leaf powder can deliver similar microbiota and performance gains under commercial quail or broader poultry production conditions. (frontiersin.org)