Authors : Mikail Baylan , Sibel Canogullari , Suat Sahinler , A. Nazim Uluocak and Gulsen Copur
Abstract: The purpose of this study, was to investigate the effects on body weight, weight gain, feed intake and feed efficiency of different selection methods for Body Weight (BW) in Japanese quail. For this purpose, line M55 was subjected to individual selection for 5 week BW while, a reciprocal recurrent selection method was applied to lines R33 and S55. Selection lasted 2 generations. Five weeks body weights in the parents of M55, R33 and S55 lines were obtained and were 273.5, 258.9 and 259.0 g in the beginning generation; 282.9, 284.8 and 279.5 g in the first generation and 284.6, 285.5 and 284.3 g in the 2nd generation. Average 5 weeks old body weights in the offspring of mass selection lines (M55) and offspring of cross-bred lines (R3S5 and S5R3) obtained from reciprocal mating were 279.5, 267.3 and 264.0 g in the 1st generation and the values obtained were 300.7, 300.5 and 300.2 g in the 2nd generation. In the 2nd generation, body weight increases were higher than the 1st generation, especially in the reciprocal selection lines. Feed consumption of the 1st generation in M55, R3S5 and S5R3 lines were 768.62, 682.61 and 674.18 g and in the 2nd generation were 776.77, 790.64 and 791.71 g, respectively. Feed conversion efficiency was also calculated and was 2.83, 2.63 and 2.63 in the 1st generation and 2.66, 2.71 and 2.73 in the 2nd generation. Applying different selection methods in the present study seeking to increase body weight in quails either in parents or in offspring showed that reciprocal selection lines resulted in higher body weight than initial body weight. Feed consumption and feed conversion efficiency are similar to in the reciprocal selection lines both in the 1st and 2nd generations.
Mikail Baylan , Sibel Canogullari , Suat Sahinler , A. Nazim Uluocak and Gulsen Copur , 2009. Effects of Divergent Selection Methods Based on Body Weights of Quail on Improvement of Broiler Quail Parents. Journal of Animal and Veterinary Advances, 8: 962-970.