Effects of Divergent Selection for Growth on Carcass Traits in Japanese Quails

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Japanese quail has been used as a model for studying the genetics of growth-selected poultry and poultry breeding. The aim of this study was to determine the effects of selection for growth on carcass traits in different lines of Japanese quails. Three lines of Japanese quails were selected (300 birds aged 2 weeks) from the original population including high body weight (HBW), low body weight (LBW) and random bred control (RBC). At 4th week of age, birds were weighed, slaughtered, weighed the carcass, edible giblets and ratio of these organs to the empty body weight were recorded. After the third generation of selection, the selected high line showed significantly higher (p < 0.05) slaughter, dressing and carcass weights compared to selected low and control lines. The mean carcass weights were 90.95 g in control, 56.12 g in low and 127.05 g in high line. These weights represented approximately 0.76, 0.62 and 0.78 of live body weight at 4th week of age, respectively. Liver, gizzard, spleen and heart weights were significantly increased (P < 0.05) in selected high line when compared to low and control lines. The mean of liver, gizzard, spleen and heart weight in selected high line were 5.85, 5.96, 0.40 and 2.54 g, which represented about 0.04, 0.04, 0.002 and 0.02 of live body weight at 4th week of age, respectively.  It concluded that selection for high body weight has been improved the carcass traits, including yield and quality.

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