Besides the protein levels, amino acid profile is considered to be more important at the time of ration formulation. The plant protein sources have been proved to be better source of protein because there is no danger of adulteration and also they have appropriate prices but at the same time most of the cereal are deficient in essential amino acids including lysine, methionine, therionine and tryptophane. under practical conditions these limitations may be rectified by judicious use of suitable protein rich ingredients and pure amino acids supplementation. The present study was planed to check the effect of different levels of lysine in vegetable protein based diets on the performance of Japanese quails (courtnix courtnix Japonica).

Three hundred quail chicks were randomly divided into five groups of 60 quails each and each group was further subdivided into 20 quails each. five experimental rations A, B, C, D, and E having lysine levels 1.10%, 1.20%, 1.30%, 1.40% and 1.50% were prepared.

The average total weight gain of chicks fed on rations A, B, C, D and E was 154.53, 148.13, 148.37, 145.73 and 139.86 gms respectively. The chicks fed on ration A having lysine level 1.10% gained more weight than all the other groups. The total feed consumption per chick on experimental rations A, B, C, D and E was 486.23, 503.66, 519.33, 521.00 and 502.60 gms respectively. The total feed consumed by chicks fed on ration D with lysine leveLi.40%was highest. When the data was subjected to statistical analysis, a non-significant difference was observed among the chicks fed on various experimental rations. The average commutative FCR of groups A, B, C, D and E was 3.26, 3.38, 3.40, 3.44 and 3.48 respectively. Best FCR was observed in chicks fed on ration A with lysine level 1.10%. The difference in FCR of ration A was also found to be more significant than all the other groups. The average values of dressing percentage of birds fed on rations A, B, C, D and E was 69.03, 69.65, 69.71, 68.29 and 68.61 gms respectively. The dressing percentage of chicks fed on ration C with lysine level 1.30% was best to all the other rations. Non- significant difference was observed in dressing percentage on five levels of lysine.