Influence of Weight Group on Growth Performance of Sigmond Strain of Japanese Quail (Coturnix coturnix japonica) in a humid rain-forest zone of Nigeria
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Abstract
This study was conducted to investigate the influence of weight group on growth performance and linear body parameters of sigmond strain of Japanese quails. A total of 126 day old chicks were used for the experiment. After brooding for 2 weeks, the chicks were weighed and allotted into 3 different weight groups – heavy (HBW), medium (MBW) and light (LBW). Each group as a treatment was replicated 3 times with 14 chicks/replicate in a completely randomized design. Performance parameters measured were feed intake (FI), daily weight gain (DWG), feed conversion ratio (FCR) and mortality. Linear body traits namely body weight, breast girth, shank length, keel length and wing length were measured at weeks 2, 4 and 6. Multiple regressions were fitted to the data to predict body weight of birds from the linear body traits at 2, 4 and 6 weeks. The HBW had significantly (P < 0.05) higher FI (32.81 g) and DWG (2.48 g) whereas significantly better FCR (4.72) was noted for the LBW. Significant differences (P < 0.05) also existed among the groups for the linear body traits except for keel length. The HBW also had significantly (P < 0.05) higher body weight, shank length and wing length compared to the other two groups. Averagely, the values were 89.01 g, 6.38 cm, 3.64 cm and 9.07 cm for body weight, breast girth, shank length and wing length, respectively. The breast girth of HBW and MBW were statistically (P > 0.05) similar. The coefficient of determination (R2) values for the regression equations were all significant (P < .05; P < 0.001) for the weight groups at the various weeks. The R2 values were high for the HBW and MBW groups but ranged from medium to high for the LBW. The result of this study suggests that body weight is a major determinant of growth performance of the Japanese quail strain. It was also observed that the linear traits were good estimators of body weight of the Japanese quails
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References
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