Livestock Studies 2000, Vol 40, Num, 1     (Pages: 048-064)

Effect of Inbreeding on Some Production Traits of Quail

Emine ÖZDEMİR 1 ,Öznur POYRAZ 2

1 Lalahan Hayvancılık Merkez Araştırma Enstitüsü, ANKARA
2 Ankara Üniversitesi Veteriner Fakültesi,Zootekni Ana Bilim Dalı, ANKARA
- This study was carried out to investigate of possibilities of establishing inbred lines in quail, for producing high productive hybrids. The effects of inbreeding on reproduction and production traits were investigated. For the initial and first three generation, the values of fertility were 83.2, 51.8, 72.4 and 72.2% in experimental groups and 84.0, 79.5, 75.9 and 74.2% for control respectively. The hatchability were 81.9, 60.9, 57.5 and 55.7% for experimental groups and 80.6, 67.0, 66.5 and 66.3% for control, and hatching yield were 68.1, 31.5, 41.6 and 40.2% for experimental groups and 67.7, 53.3, 50.0 and 49.2% for control, at the same order.

As a result of inbreeding, the survival rate were reduced for the first two weeks at an important level (P<0.01). There were also nonsignificant decrease for the later weeks. It was found that the survival rate were 84.1 and 64.7% for experimental groups and 96.8 and 73.0% for control group at the first and second week respectively. The body weight was 146.8 g for experimental groups and 144.4 g for the control group at 43rd day.

Age at the first egg was 51.5 days for experimental groups and 54.6 days for control. The age at first egg was earlier in the experimental groups than the control but egg weight and egg production were low in the experimental groups. According to the 45 days results, egg production were 36.3 and 40.5 for the experimental and control groups, respectively. The values of experimental group were lower than control at the 1st ,15th , 30th and 45th days for egg weight.

As a conclusion, because of serious negative effects in reproduction, the rate of inbreeding should be increase slowly and gradually in quails. Keywords : Quail, inbreeding, production traits