Effects of Hatching Egg Weight and Parental Age on the Hatching Weight and 6th Week Live Weight in Japanese Quail (Coturnix coturnix japonica)

Authors: İskender YILDIRIM, Ramazan YETİŞİR

Abstract: This experiment was conducted to determine the effects of hatching egg weight and parental age on the hatching chick weight and sixth week of age live weight of Japanese Quail ( Coturnix coturnix japonica). The first experiment was carried out with a total of 450 quail chicks hatched from three different egg weights groups (A, 11.0-11.9 g; B, 12.0-12.9 g; C, 13.0-13.9 g). In the second experiment, a total of 200 quail chicks hatched from eggs of two different age groups (22 and 65 wks of age) were used. As a result of the first experiment, average chick weights at the hatching and live weight of six weeks age were determined as 6.98, 7.56, 8.39 g and 178.16, 182.92, 181.32 g for A, B and C groups, respectively. There were significantly differences (P<0.01) among groups for average live weights at six weeks of age. There were significantly correlation and regression coefficents (P<0.01) between hatching egg weight and hatching chick weight (r=0.67 and b=0.703). In the second experiment, average hatching chick weights of eggs obtained from 22 and 65 weeks of age quails and their live weights at six weeks of age were determined as 7.70 and 7.75 g; 171.89 and 178.94, respectively. There were significantly differences (P<0.05) between groups for live weight of six weeks of age.

Keywords: Quail, egg weight, parental age, hatching weight, live weight at 6th week.

Full Text: PDF