Reproductive behaviour, fertility, hatchability and body size in two strains of Japanese quail

ABSTRACT

The combined effects of group size, mating ratio, age and mating system on the behavioral, productive and reproductive traits of Japanese quail during maturity stage were studied. Results showed that, crowing showed a highest frequency in brown male, white female groups. Moreover, the highest aggression frequency was in brown male and female groups. On the other h and, the oviposition was found to be high in the white male, brown female groups, also body weight has the same trend. On contrary, fertility and hatchability took another trend with highest percentage for brown male and female groups. The highest body weight was for 5 birds/cage, while, the highest egg production was for 2 birds/cage. The male crowing frequency was decreased with age from the 3rd month to the 8th month. On the other h and, oviposition, body weight and egg production were gradually increased with age. However, fertility was decreased with advanced age. On the other h and, the number of complete mating, the number of incomplete mating and crowing were high during early morning, whereas low crowing was during late afternoon. Oviposition was significantly [P <0.01] affected by periods of day with the highest mean during late afternoon and lowest during early morning