Author/Authors :
Narinc، Dogan نويسنده Faculty of Agriculture, Department of Animal Science, Akdeniz University, Antalya, 07100, Turkey , , Aygun ، Ali نويسنده Faculty of Agriculture, Department of Animal Science, Selcuk University, Konya, 42075, Turkey , , Sari ، Tolga نويسنده Faculty of Agriculture, Department of Animal Science, Akdeniz University, Antalya, 07100, Turkey ,
Abstract :
In this study, the effects of mating ratio and cage type on the percentage of fertility in Japanese quail were investigated. For this aim, 124 breeder quails were housed in individual cages and 164 breeder quails were housed in colony cages. In total, 1646 eggs were used to determine the percentage of fertility. Families were formed to consist of 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5 female per male in both individual and colony type cages. The percentage of fertility was found to be 87.43% for the quails housed in individual cages and 84.26% for the quails housed in colony cages. The effect of cage type on the fertility was found to be significant (P < 0.05). In general, the highest percentage of fertility were found in 1:1 (92.21%) and 1:2 (91.18%) male-female mating ratio (P < 0.05). The highest percentage of fertility (92.21%) for the quails housed in colony cages was obtained from 1:1 male-female mating ratio, whereas the highest percentage of fertility (93.21%) for the quails housed in individual cages was observed in 1:2 male-female mating ratio (P < 0.05). In conclusion, it can be concluded that the number of female per male must not exceed 3 in order to obtain sufficient number of chicks from the quails housed in individual cages for genetic improvement studies. Moreover, 1:4 male-female mating ratio may be the choice that results in reasonable number of chicks in breeder flocks for commercial production.
