Effects of Genetic and Non-genetic Factors on Body Weight and Carcass Related Traits in Two Strains of Japanese Quails

Document Type : Original Paper

Authors

Department of Animal Science, Azadshahr Branch, Islamic Azad University, Azadshahr, Iran

Abstract

The current study was conducted to investigate the effects of genetic and non-genetic factors on body weight and carcass traits of Japanese quails. Two strains of Japanese quail (150 wild quails and 150 white quails) were used as base population. Four mating groups were used to produce progenies: wild male × wild female, white male × wild female, wild male × white female and white male × white female. Quails were weighed then slaughtered at 35 days of age. The carcass traits consisting carcass weight, breast meat weight, thigh meat weight, skin weight, and abdominal fat weight were recorded after slaughter and after removing feathers, internal organs, and digestive system. Based on these weights, the percentages of carcass, breast, thigh, skin, and abdominal fat were estimated. The effects of sex, hatch, and mating group on body and carcass composition traits were investigated. Sex had a significant effect on all traits (p < 0.01), with the exception of the thigh percentage. Moreover, female birds showed higher values for all traits. There were significant differences between hatches and mating groups and wild male × wild female offspring showed highest values of carcass weight, breast weight, thigh weight, skin weight and abdominal fat weight (p < 0.01). The heritability estimates for body and carcass related traits were moderate to high (0.22 to 0.66). The carcass percentage traits showed lower heritability, ranged from 0.22 to 0.33. Genetic correlations between body weight and carcass weight, skin weight, breast weight, thigh weight, and abdominal fat weight were moderate to high (0.37 to 0.94). These results showed that selection for increasing body weight and decreasing abdominal fat will improve carcass related traits.

Keywords

References

Alkan S, Karabag K, Galic A, Karsli T & Balcioglu MS. 2010. Determination of body weight and some carcass traits in Japanese quails (Coturnix coturnix japonica) of different lines. Kafkas Universitesi Veteriner Fakultesi Dergisi, 16: 277-280. DOI: 10.9775/kvfd.2009.687
Akbarnejad S, Hassani S, Samadi F & Lotfi E. 2015. Genetic evaluation of carcass traits in Japanese quail using ultrasonic and morphological measurements. British Poultry Science, 56: 239-298. DOI: 10.1080/00071668.2015.1041453
Beiki H, Pakdel A & Moradi Shahrbabak M. 2011. The effect of divergent selection on 4-wk body weight on the shape of growth curve in Japanese quail. Iranian Journal of Animal Science Research. 42: 39-45. (In Persian with English abstract). DOI: 10.22067/ijasr.v3i1.10534
Charati H & Esmailizadeh AK. 2013. Carcass traits and physical characteristics of eggs in Japanese quail as affected by genotype, sex and hatch.  Journal of Livestock Science and Technologies, 1: 57-62.
Daikwo SI, Momoh OM & Dim NI. 2013. Heritability estimates of, genetic and phenotypic correlations among some selected carcass traits of Japanese quail (Coturnix coturnix japonica) raised in a sub-humid climate. Journal of Biology, Agriculture and Healthcare, 3: 60-66.
Falconer DS & MacKay TFC. 1996. Introduction to quantitative genetics. 4th ed. Longman Scientific and Technical, Burnt Mill, Harlow, UK.
Gilmour AR, Thompson R, Cullins BR & Welham SJ. 1999. ASREML reference manual. NSW Agriculture, Orange, Australia. 210 Pages.
Griffin HD. 1996. Understanding genetic variation in fatness in chickens. Annual report, Roslin Institute, Edinburgh, UK.
Khaldari M, Pakdel A, Mehrabani Yegane H, Nejati Javaremi A & Berg P. 2010. Response to selection and genetic parameters of body and carcass weights in Japanese quail selected for 4-week body weight. Poultry Science, 89: 1834–1841. DOI: 10.3382/ps.2010-00725
Kumari BP, Gupta BR, Reddy AR, Prakash MG & Reddy KS. 2008. Genetic and non-genetic factors affecting the carcass characteristics of Japanese quails (Coturnix coturnix Japonica). Indian Journal of Animal Research, 42: 248-252.
Lotfi E, Zerehdaran S & Ahani Azari, M. 2011. Genetic evaluation of carcass composition and fat deposition in Japanese quail. Poultry Science, 90: 2202–2208. DOI
: 10.3382/ps.2011-01570
Maiorano G, Knaga S, Witkowski A, Cianciullo D & Bednarczyk M. 2011. Cholesterol content and intramuscular collagen properties of pectoralis superficialis muscle of quail from different genetic groups. Poultry Science, 90: 1620–1626. DOI: 10.3382/ps.2010-01190
Marefat H, Hassani S, Zerehdaran S & Ayatollahi Mehjardi A. 2014. Estimation of genetic parameters of body weights and carcass traits in English White quail. Journal of Animal Science Researches, 24: 83-91. [In Persian with English abstract]
Marks HL. 1993. Carcass composition, feed intake, and feed efficiency following long term selection for four-week body weight in Japanese quail. Poultry Science, 72: 1005–1011. DOI: 10.3382/ps.0721005
Minvielle F. 1998. Genetics and breeding of Japanese quail for production around the world. Proceedings 6th Asian Pacific Poultry Congress. Nagoya, Japan. Pages, 122-127.
Narinc D, Kraman E & Aksoy T. 2010. Estimation of genetic parameters for carcass
traits in Japanese quail using Bayesian methods. South African Journal of Animal Science, 40: 342-347.
Narinc D, Aksoy T, Karaman E, Aygun A, Firat MZ & Uslu MK. 2013. Japanese quail meat quality: Characteristics, heritabilities, and genetic correlations with some slaughter traits. Poultry Science, 92: 1735–1744. DOI: 10.3382/ps.2013-03075
Prado-Gonzalez EA, Ramirez-Avila L & Segura-Correa JC. 2003. Genetic parameters for body weights of Creole chickens from southeastern Mexico using an animal model. Livestock Research for Rural Development, 15: 27-31.
Raji AO, Girgiri AY, Alade NK & Jauro SA. 2015. Characteristics and proximate composition of Japanese quail (Coturnix Japonica) carcass in a semi arid area of Nigeria. Trakia Journal of Sciences, 2: 159-165. DOI: 10.15547/tjs.2015.02.008
Rance KA, McEntee GM & McDevitt RM. 2002. Genetic and phenotypic relationships between and within support and demand tissues in a single line of broiler chicken. British Poultry Science, 43: 518–527. DOI: 10.1080/0007166022000004426
Saatci M, Omed H & Dewi IA. 2006. Genetic parameters from univariate and bivariate analyses of egg and weight traits in Japanese quail. Poultry Science, 85: 185-190. DOI: 10.1093/ps/85.2.185
Sari M, Tilki M & Saatci M. 2011. Genetic parameters of slaughter and carcase traits in Japanese quail (Coturnix coturnix japonica). British Poultry Science, 52: 169-172. DOI: 10.1080/00071668.2010.549670
Shokoohmand M, Kashan NEJ & Maybody MAE. 2007. Estimation of heritability and genetic correlations of body weight in different age for three strains of Japanese quail. International Journal of Agricultural and Biology, 9: 945–947.
Silva LP, Riberio JC, Crispim AC, Silva FG, Bonafé CM, Silva FF & Torres RA.  2013. Genetic parameters of body weight and egg traits in meat-type quail. Livestock Science, 153: 27–32. DOI: 10.1016/j.livsci.2013.01.014
Vali N. 2008. The Japanese Quail: A Review. International Journal of Poultry Science, 7: 925-931.
Vali N, Edriss MA & Rahmani HR. 2005. Genetic parameters of body and some carcass traits in two quail strains. International Journal of Poultry Science, 4: 296–300.
Varkoohi S & Kaviani K. 2014. Genetic improvement for body weight of Japanese quail. Annual Research and Review in Biology, 4: 347-353.
Wilkanowska A & Kokoszynski D. 2011. Comparison of slaughter value in Pharaoh quail of different ages. Journal of Central European Agriculture, 12: 145-154. DOI: 10.5513/jcea.v12i1.943
Zerehdaran S, Vereijken ALJ, van Arendonk JAM & van der Waaijt EH. 2004. Estimation of genetic parameters for fat deposition and carcass traits in broilers. Poultry Science, 83: 521–525. DOI: 10.1093/ps/83.4.521
Poultry Science Journal
Volume 5, Issue 1
June 2017
Pages 17-24

Files

Share

How to cite

Statistics