Carcass Characteristics of Coturnix Quail as Affected by Sex and Housing System
[1]
Simeon O. Olawumi, Animal Breeding and Genetics Unit, Department of Animal Production and Health Sciences, Ekiti State University, Ado-Ekiti, Nigeria.
The effects of sex and housing on live body weight and carcass characteristics of Coturnix quails were examined in this study. Two hundred day-old quails purchased from local hatcheries were separated according to sexes at three weeks old and also divided into cage and deep litter systems. At the end of the 10 week trial, five birds from each sexes and housing were slaughtered, the carcasses were processed and the carcass weight, slaughter weight, dressed weight and other carcass parts were measured. Results showed that the female quail had higher and superior mean values in live body weight and carcass measurements. In addition, females recorded higher weight in edible giblets. With regard to housing system, cage and deep litter did not differ significantly in live body weight and other carcass parts. This implies that both systems of housing are good for rearing quail birds and either could be adopted for profitable and efficient quail meat production. It is suggested that more female quails be raised and produced in large commercial quantities to mitigate the effects of malnutrition prevalent in developing countries as a result of animal protein deficiencies.
Sex, Deep Litter, Cage, Carcass Weight, Quail
[1]
Bonos E. M., Christaki E. V., Florou-Paneri P. C. 2010. Performance and carcass characteristics of Japanese quail as affected by sex or mannan oligosaccharides and calcium propionate. South African Journal of Animal Science 40(3): 173-184.
[2]
Caron N., Minvielle F., Desmarias M., Poste, L. M. 1990, Mass selection for 45 day body weight Japanese quail: selection response carcass composition, looking properties and sensory characteristics. Poultry Science 69: 1037-1045.
[3]
Hemid A. E. A., Abd El-Gawad A. H., El-Wardany I. 2010. Alleviating effect of some environmental stress factors on productive performance in Japanese quail 2. Laying performance. World journal of Agricultural Sciences 6(5): 517-524.
[4]
Marks H. L. 1990. Genetic of egg production in other galliformes. In: poultry breeding and genetic. R D Crawford, ed., Elsivier, Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
[5]
Marks H. L., Washburn, K. W. 1991. Body, abdominal fat and testes weights and line by se interactions in Japanese quail divergently selected for plasma cholesterol in response to adrenocorticotropin. Poultry Science 70: 2395-2401.
[6]
Okamoto S., Kobayashi S., Matsuo T. 1989. Feed conversion to body weight gain and egg production in large and small Japanese quail lines selected for 6-week body weight. Japanese Poultry Science 26: 227-234.
[7]
Selim K., Ibrahim S., Ozge, Y. 2006. Effect of separate and mixed rearing according to sex on tattering performance and carcass characteristics in Japanese quails (Coturnix coturnix japonica). Arch Tierz. Dummerstort 49(6): 607-614.
[8]
Sezer M., Tarhan S. 2005. Model parameters of growth curves of three-meat type lines of Japanese quail. Csech. Journal of Animal Science 50: 22-30.
[9]
Sezer M., Berberoglu E., Ulutas, Z. 2006. Genetic Association between sexual maturity and weekly live-weights in laying-type Japanese quail. South African Journal of Animal Science 36(2): 142-148.
[10]
Shim K. F. 2005. The nutrition and management of Japanese (Coturnix quail in theTropics). http://www.thatquailplace.com/quail/coturn1.htm. accessed January 2010.
[11]
Statistical Analysis System SAS,. SAS Users Guide. Statistics, 8th edition, SAS Institute Cary, NC, USA. 2001.
[12]
Tarhel R., Tanimomo B. K., Hena S. A. 2012. Effect of sex and weight group on carcass characteristics of Japanese quail. Scientific Journal of Animal Science 1(1): 22-27.
[13]
Toelle V. D., Havenstein G. B., Nestor K. E., Harvey W. R. 1991. Genetic and phenotypic relationships in Japanese quail, body weight, carcass and organ measurements. Poultry Science 70: 1679-1688.
[14]
Yalcin S., Oguz I., Otles S. 1995. Carcass characteristics of quail (Coturnix coturnix japonica) slaughtered at different ages. British Poultry Science 36: 393-399.
