AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH COMMUNICATION CENTREwww.arccjournals.com/www.ijaronline.in

*Corresponding author’s e-mail: punya67@yahoo.co.in.

Indian J. Anim. Res., 50 (3) 2016:293-299Print ISSN:0367-6722 / Online ISSN:0976-0555

Genetic parameters of egg quality traits in two strains of Japanese quailsB. Punya Kumari*, B. Ramesh Gupta and M. Gnana Prakash

Sri Venkateswara Veterinary University,Tirupati-517 502, India.Received: 15-11-2014 Accepted: 09-06-2015 DOI: 10.18805/ijar.10710

ABSTRACTPresent study was carried out to estimate the genetic and phenotypic parameters among external, internal egg quality traitsand quality indices in Black and Brown Japanese quails. A total of 1218 eggs collected consecutively for three days at 16weeks of age from 202 Black and 204 Brown Japanese quails were utilized in the present study to record the data onexternal and internal egg quality traits. The overall least squares means for EW, EL, EWD, SW, ST, AL, AWD, AH, AW,YD, YH, YW, YFC, SI, AI, YI and HUS were 13.63 g, 33.85 mm, 26.76 mm, 1.14 g, 0.21 mm, 42.63 mm, 33.45 mm, 5.04mm, 7.95 g, 24.53 mm, 11.43 mm, 4.53 g, 5.66, 79.18, 0.13, 0.47 and 60.09, respectively. Majority of the heritabilityestimates for egg quality traits were within the range of moderate to high and suggested the existence of sizeable geneticvariability for exploitation by appropriate selection procedure.

Key words: Egg quality traits, Genetic parameters, Heritability, Japanese quails.

INTRODUCTIONJapanese quails (Coturnix coturnix japonica), the

tiny farmed avian species gaining more importance ascommercial egg and meat producer. The average age at firstegg in Japanese quail is 6- 8weeks and quails can lay upto280 to 300 eggs in their first year of lay. Quality of eggs hadgreat influence on breeding and marketing of eggs since theexternal egg quality traits have direct effect not only onhatchability and development of chicks, but also related withthe number of salable eggs. Even though, several publications(Chaudhary et al.,1999; Dhaliwal et al.,2003 and Kui andSeker 2004) reported the means for external egg qualitytraits and phenotypic parameters among them in Japanesequails, but the literature on genetic parameters viz.,heritability, genetic, phenotypic and environmentalcorrelations among external, internal egg quality traits andquality indices is scanty and limited. Hence, the presentinvestigation was undertaken to study the effects of strain,generation and hatch on external, internal egg quality traitsand quality indices and also to estimate phenotypic andgenetic variation among all the egg quality traits under studyin Black and Brown Japanese quails.MATERIALS AND METHODS

The study was conducted on 100 Black and 102Brown Japanese quails belonging to 6th and 102 Black and102 Brown Japanese quails belonging to 7th generationsmaintained during the years 2006 to 2007 at PoultryExperimental Station, College of Veterinary Science,Rajendranagar. Total of 1218 eggs were collected in threesequential days from total of 406 Black and Brown femaleJapanese quails at 16 weeks of age and utilized for the

measurement of external egg quality traits viz., egg weight(EW), egg width (EWD), egg length (EL), shell weight (SW),shell thickness (ST) and internal egg quality traits (albumenweight (AW), albumen length (AL), albumen width (AWD),albumen height (AH), yolk weight (YW), yolk diameter(YD), yolk height (YH) and yolk fan colour (YF). Based onthe data collected on various egg quality traits, egg qualityindices viz., shape index, Albumen index (Heiman andCarver, 1936) and Yolk index ((Funk, 1948) were computed.The weight of each egg was recorded with electronic digitalbalance to the accuracy of 0.01 g. The longer and widerdiameter of the egg was measured using Vernier caliperswith an accuracy of 0.01 mm. The eggs were then broken ona perfectly leveled glass plate. The length and width of thethick albumen spread on the glass plate were measured atthe longest point by vernier calipers. The height of thickalbumen was recorded with a spherometer. The width of theyolk was measured twice at right angles to each other andaveraged over these two readings. The height of the yolkwas measured at the highest point by a spherometer. Then,the yolk was separated from the albumen and weighed nearestto 0.01 g accuracy. Yolk color was determined by usingRoche yolk color fan. The shells of the broken eggs werecleaned and allowed to a dry at room temperature. The shellweight (dried) was measured up to 0.01 g accuracy. Albumenweight was calculated indirectly by subtracting the weightsof the yolk and shell from the egg weight. Haugh unit score(HUS), a measure of internal quality was computed as perthe procedure of Kondaiah et al., (1983). The weights ofalbumen, yolk and shell were calculated in relation to eggweight and expressed as percentages. The transformation of

294 INDIAN JOURNAL OF ANIMAL RESEARCH

percentage data (egg quality traits) in to arc-sin values wasundertaken wherever the percentages ranged from near zeroto 30% and from 70% to 100% (Snedecor and Cochran,1967). The data generated on egg quality traits was subjectedto least squares analysis (Harvey, 1979) to study the effectsof strain, generation and hatch and the data adjusted forgeneration and hatch effects was utilized for estimation ofgenetic parameters (Becker, 1985).RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

The results of least squares analysis of variance ofegg quality traits of Japanese quails revealed that strain,generation and hatch had a significant influence not only onegg quality indices but also on percentages of albumen andyolk, EW, EWD, SW, AL, AH, YD, YH and YF.

The least square means for various egg quality traitsaccording to the strains, generations and hatches are shownin Table 1. The overall least squares means for EW, EL,EWD, SW, ST, AL, AWD, AH, AW, YD, YH, YW, YFC, SI,AI, YI and HUS were 13.63 g, 33.85 mm, 26.76 mm, 1.14g, 0.21 mm, 42.63 mm, 33.45 mm, 5.04 mm, 7.95 g, 24.53mm, 11.43 mm, 4.53 g, 5.66, 79.18, 0.13, 0.47 and 60.09,respectively. The albumen, yolk and shell weights constituted58.30, 33.28 and 8.41 per cent of the egg weight, respectively.

The overall least squares means obtained in thisstudy for EW (13.63 g), EL (33.85 mm), EWD (26.76 mm),SW (1.14 g) and ST (0.21mm), internal egg quality traitsand quality indices were within the range of means reportedby Chaudhary et al. (1999), Nazligul et al., 2001 and Sezer(2007), where as Dhaliwal et al. (2003) reported the lower

Table 1: Least squares means of egg quality traits of Japanese quails

Trait Overall(n=406) Black(n=202) Brown(n=204) Generation 6 Generation 7 (n=202) (n=204)

Mean SE Mean SE Mean SE Mean SE Mean SEEgg weight (g) 13.63 0.06 13.51 a 0.08 13.74 b 0.07 13.63 0.08 13.63 0.07Egg length (mm) 33.85 0.07 33.81 0.09 33.89 0.09 33.79 0.10 33.91 0.08Egg width (cm) 26.76 0.04 26.62 a 0.05 26.90 b 0.05 26.76 0.06 26.77 0.05Shell weight(g) 1.14 0.00 1.13 a 0.01 1.16 b 0.01 1.15 0.01 1.14 0.01Shell thickness (mm) 0.21 0.00 0.21 0.00 0.22 0.00 0.21 0.00 0.21 0.00Albumen length (mm) 42.63 0.14 41.58 a 0.20 43.68 b 0.19 42.68 0.22 42.59 0.19Albumen width (mm) 33.45 0.11 33.55 0.15 33.36 0.14 33.02 a 0.16 33.89 b 0.14Albumen height (mm) 5.04 0.03 5.16 b 0.04 4.92 a 0.04 5.27 b 0.04 4.80 a 0.04Albumen weight (g) 7.95 0.04 7.85 a 0.05 8.05 b 0.05 7.98 0.06 7.91 0.05Yolk diameter (mm) 24.53 0.05 24.38 a 0.07 24.69 b 0.07 24.46 0.08 24.61 0.07Yolk height (mm) 11.43 0.03 11.43 0.04 11.43 0.04 11.69 0.04 11.17 0.04Yolk weight (g) 4.53 0.02 4.54 0.03 4.53 0.03 4.50 0.04 4.57 0.03Yolk fan 5.66 0.03 5.53 a 0.04 5.78 b 0.04 5.60 a 0.05 5.72 b 0.04 Shape index 79.18 0.14 78.86 a 0.19 79.49 b 0.19 79.33 0.21 79.02 0.18 Albumen index 0.13 0.01 0.14 b 0.00 0.13 a 0.00 0.14 b 0.00 0.13 a 0.00Yolk index 0.47 0.01 0.47 b 0.00 0.46 a 0.00 0.48 b 0.00 0.46 a 0.00Haugh unit score 60.09 0.35 61.78 b 0.48 58.41 a 0.47 63.21 b 0.53 56.97 a 0.45Percentage Albumen 58.30 0.12 58.07 a 0.16 58.54 b 0.16 58.55 b 0.18 58.06 a 0.15Percentage yolk 33.28 0.12 33.56 b 0.16 32.99 a 0.16 33.04 a 0.18 33.51 b 0.16Percentage shell 8.41 0.00 8.36 a 0.00 8.47 b 0.00 8.41 0.00 8.42 0.00

Means followed by the same superscript(s) do not differ significantly (P<0.05) Contd.,

mean percentages for albumen, yolk and shell than those inthe present study. The means higher than those in the presentinvestigation were observed by Tiwari (1976), Sreenivasaiah(1977) and Altinel et al. (1996).

The eggs of Brown Japanese quails were found tobe slightly heavier (13.74 g) and wider (26.90 mm) thanthose of Black Japanese quails (13.51 g and 26.62 mm).Brown Japanese quails recorded significantly higher meansfor SW (1.16 g), AL (43.68 mm), YD (24.69 mm), YFC(5.78), SI (79.49) and SP (8.47) than Black Japanese quails,while Black Japanese quails were superior with significantlyhigher means for AH (5.16 mm), AI (0.14), HUS (61.78)and YP (33.56).

Generation had significant effect (P<0.01) on AWD,AH, YF, AI, YI, HUS, AP and YP. Chicks of generation 7recorded significantly (P<0.01) higher means for AWD(33.89 mm), YFC (5.72) and YP (33.51), while, the femalesof generation 6 recorded higher means for other traits. Thedams in the present study were selected based on individualselection for high 4-week body weight up to 5 generations,but in generations 6 and 7, the dams were selected based ontheir body weight at 4 weeks of age, AFE and EP up to 16weeks of age, which resulted in selection of birds withmediocre body weights but better in their AFE and eggproduction, that has resulted in eggs with lower means ingenerations 6 and 7 compared to earlier generations.

Significant (P<0.01) effect of hatch was noticed onmajority of egg quality traits. The hens of hatch 7 produced

Volume 50 Issue 3 (2016) 295

significantly heavier eggs and correspondingly this hatch hasrecorded highest means for EW (14.28 g), AW (8.35 g) andYH (11.71 mm), while, the birds of hatch 8 recorded highestmeans for SW (1.23 g), YW (5.06 g) and YP (37.37). Highermeans were recorded in one or other hatches for remainingegg quality traits with non significant variation amonghatches for EL, EWD, AL, AH, YD, SI, AI and HUS. Highestmeans for AP (58.99) and SP (8.62) were noticed in hatch 6and 8 respectively and the significant differences amonghatches may be attributable to the variations in environment.

The higher means for EW recorded in the presentstudy might be due to the fact that the Black and BrownJapanese quails have been under selection for high 4-weekbody weight for 5 generations, resulting in higher bodyweights and consequently the heavier eggs. The performanceof Brown strain was superior to Black strain for a majorityof the egg quality traits (Table 1). Significant effect of strainson egg quality traits confirmed the results of earlier reports(Praharaj et al., 1989 and Oroian et al., 2002). However,the insignificant differences between strains for EL, ST,AWD, YH and YW in the present study agreed well with thefindings of Praharaj et al. (1989), Chaudhary et al. (1999)and Dhaliwal et al. (2003).Heritability: The estimates of heritability for EW, EL, EWD,SW and ST (external egg quality traits) were 0.26, 0.24,0.32, 0.30 and 0.07 in Black Japanese quails, while theestimates for internal egg quality traits (AL, AWD, AH, AW,YD, YH, YW and YFC) ranged from low to moderate (0.12to 0.51). Estimates of heritability for SI, AI, YI, AP, YP andSP were 0.17, 0.03, 0.52, 0.86, 0.77 and 0.05 (low to high),respectively (Table 2).

Heritability estimates for external egg quality traitsin Brown Japanese quails varied from 0.06 to 0.38; whilethe estimates for internal egg quality traits ranged from 0.13to 0.65. The heritability estimates for SI, AI, YI and HUSwere 0.26, 0.59, 0.31 and 0.05, respectively (Table 3). Themagnitude and trend of the heritability estimates for eggquality traits in Black and Brown Japanese quails in thepresent investigation was in accordance with the findings ofearlier research workers (Praharaj et al., 1989; Adeogun etal., 2003 and Dhaliwal et al., 2003). Most of the estimatesfor egg quality traits were within the range of moderate tohigh and suggested the existence of sizeable geneticvariability for exploitation by appropriate selectionprocedure.Correlations: The genetic, phenotypic and environmentalcorrelations of EW with other external egg quality traits (EL,EWD, SW and ST) varied from -0.09 to 0.95, 0.01 to 0.87and 0.17 to 0.85, respectively, in Black strain (Table 2). Thegenetic correlation of EW with EWD was 0.61 in Brownstrain, whereas the phenotypic correlations were found tobe positive but varied from low to high (0.10 to 0.84) inmagnitude. The environmental correlations varied from 0.58Tr

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296 INDIAN JOURNAL OF ANIMAL RESEARCH

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Volume 50 Issue 3 (2016) 297

to 0.86 among various egg quality traits in Brown Japanesequails (Table 3).

The positive genetic association with moderate tohigh (0.37 to 0.96) magnitude was noticed for EW withinternal egg quality traits (AL, AWD, AH, AW, YD, YWand YFC) in both Black and Brown strains, while thephenotypic correlations ranged from -0.25 to 0.67. Majorityof environmental correlations were high in magnitude andpositive in direction, with an exception for albumen heightand yolk fan colour in Brown Japanese quails and for yolkfan color in Black strain.

Medium to high genetic correlations observed forEW with egg quality indices (SI, AI, YI, AP, YP and SP) inBlack (-0.55 to 0.26) and Brown (-1.00 to 0.73) strains,whereas, the phenotypic association was inconsistent indirection with low to medium range (-0.24 to 0.01) amongthe strains. The environmental correlations ranged from -0.56 to 0.34 in Black and -0.52 to 0.16 in Brown strain. Thegenetic correlations of EL with other external, internal eggquality traits and quality indices ranged from low to high (-0.11 to 0.95) in Black Japanese quails and medium to high(0.36 to 0.94) in Brown Japanese quails, whereas, low tohigh (0.01 to 0.57) correlations with inconsistency indirection were observed at phenotypic level in both thestrains.

Low to high genetic correlation coefficients wereobserved for EWD with external and internal quality traitsas well as the quality indices (SI, AI, YI, AP) in Black (-0.94 to 0.95) and Brown (-0.56 to 0.68) strain. Thephenotypic association was low to medium in magnitude (-0.14 to 0.59) with positive direction in Black (Table 2) andwith both directions in Brown Japanese quails (Table 3).The environmental correlations varied from -0.34 to 0.85among the strains.

Genetic association of SW with other egg qualitytraits ranged from low to high both Black (-0.97 to 0.80)and Brown (-0.20 to 0.93) Japanese quails. Similar trendwas observed for phenotypic and environmental correlationsin the present study for the above combination of the traits.Genetic and phenotypic correlations of ST with other eggquality traits ranged from -0.77 to 0.98 and -0.18 to 0.13.Similarly, the genetic and phenotypic association of AL,AWD and AH with the other egg quality traits ranged fromlow to high.

The genetic, phenotypic and environmentalcorrelations of AW with other egg quality traits ranged from-0.79 to 0.79, -0.41 to 0.41 and -0.48 to 0.92 in BlackJapanese quails and from -0.37 to 0.61, -0.18 to 0.39 and -0.15 to 0.38 in Brown Japanese quails.

The genetic, phenotypic and environmentalcorrelations of YD with other egg quality traits were low tohigh in magnitude with inconsistency in direction both in

Black (-0.24 to 0.84, -0.05 to 0.81 and -0.67 to 0.78) andBrown (-0.69 to 0.45, -0.77 to 0.06 -0.55 to 0.13) strains.The estimates varied from low to high (-0.64 to 0.88) ongenetic scale among the strains for YH with other qualitytraits, while the phenotypic association was low to medium(0.01 to 0.33) in magnitude in Black and low in Brown (0.01to 0.15) strains. The estimates were low in magnitude forYW with other quality traits at phenotypic level (-0.16 to0.02) and low to high (-0.85 to 0.88) on genetic scale inBlack strain. The genetic, phenotypic and environmentalcorrelations of yolk fan colour with other quality indices inBlack Japanese quails varied from -0.85 to 0.45, -0.20 to0.17 and -0.14 to 0.34, respectively, whereas the correlationsin the same order for Brown Japanese quails were -0.75 to0.53, -0.11 to 0.12 and -0.30 to 0.90.

The genetic, phenotypic and environmentalcorrelations of SI with other quality indices varied from lowto medium in Black (0.06 to 0.23, 0.11 to 0.18 and -0.01 to0.24) and Brown (-0.42 to 0.46, 0.09 to 0.19 and -0.04 to0.20) Japanese quails. The genetic, phenotypic andenvironmental correlations of AI with other quality indicesranged from -0.84 to 0.89, -0.16 to 0.20 and -0.06 to 0.11 inBlack Japanese quails, whereas in Brown Japanese quailsthe corresponding estimates were medium, medium to highand low in magnitude (0.50 to 0.77, 0.23 to 0.87 and 0.03).In Black Japanese quails the genetic, phenotypic andenvironmental correlations of YI with other quality indicesvaried from -0.20 to 0.68, -0.38 to 0.33 and -0.79 to 0.89,respectively, while the phenotypic and environmentalcorrelations of yolk index with Haugh unit score in BrownJapanese quails were 0.26 and 0.10 respectively.

The phenotypic correlations of AP with YP and SPin Black Japanese quails were -0.98 and 0.03, respectivelyand the corresponding estimates of genetic correlations were-1.00 and -0.45. The magnitude and direction of genetic andphenotypic correlations observed in the present study werein conformity with the findings of Kondaiah et al. (1983),Praharaj et al. (1989), Dhaliwal et al. (2003) and Kui andSeker (2004). The positive correlation of egg weight withshell weight on genetic and phenotypic scale noticed in thepresent study was in accordance with the findings of earlierreports (Choi et al., 1983; Poyraz, 1989 and Kui and Seker,2004). The association between EW with its external andinternal components observed in the present investigationrevealed variation in the genetic, phenotypic andenvironmental correlations among the Black and Brownstrains and all most all internal and external quality traitsvaried depending on egg weight. Baumgartner et al. (2003)and Sezer (2007) also revealed high positive genetic andphenotypic association of egg weight with its components.

Further, results of the present study revealed thatalmost all the egg quality traits (external and internal) wereassociated themselves positively in direction but low to high in

298 INDIAN JOURNAL OF ANIMAL RESEARCH

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Volume 50 Issue 3 (2016) 299

magnitude. Majority of the traits studied were secondary anddependant on the major trait of the egg weight. Hence, any

selection programme aimed to alter egg weight would modifythe associated traits due to correlated response to selection.

REFERENCESAdeogun, I. O., Mbap, S. T. and Abdul, S. D. (2003). Heritability and genetic correlations of some egg quality traits in

quail (Coturnix coturnix japonica). Tropi. Agri. 80: 132-134.Altinel, A., Gunes H, Kirmizibayrack, T., Corekci, S. G. and Bilal, T. (1996). The studies on egg quality characteristics of

Japanese quails. Veteriner Fakultesi Dergisi Istanbul 22 : 203-213. Cited from CAB Abstracts, 1996.Baumgartner, J., Koncekova, Z., Benkova, J., Rybanska, M. and Zidek, R. (2003). Experimental lines of Japanese quail in

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quails and their reciprocal crosses for body weights and egg quality. Indian J. Poult. Sci. 34: 147-154.Choi, J. H., Kang, W. J., Baik, D. H. and Park, H. S. (1983). A study on some characteristics of fractions and shell quality

of the chicken egg. Korean J. Anim. Sci.s 25: 651-655.Dhaliwal, S. K., Chaudhary, M. L. and Brah, G. S. (2003). Genetic analysis of egg quality in selected and control line of

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the yolk from albumen. Poultry Science 27: 376-380.Harvey, W. R. (1979). Least Squares Analysis of Data with Unequal Sub-class Numbers. USDA,Heiman, V. and Carver, J. S. (1936). The albumen index as a physical measurement of observed egg quality. Poult. Sci.

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quail (Coturnix coturnix japonica). International J. Poult. Sci. 3: 400-405.Nazligul, A., Turkyilmaz, K. and Bardakcioglu, HE. (2001). A study on some production traits and egg quality characteristics

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Praharaj, N. K., Ayyagari, V. and Mohapatra, S. C. (1989). Studies on the inheritance of egg quality traits in Japanese quails(Coturnix coturnix japonica). Indian J. Poult. Sci. 24: 107-111.

Sezer, M. (2007) Heritability of exterior egg quality traits in Japanese quails. J. applied Bio. Sci. 1: 37-40.Snedecor, G. W. and Cochran, W. G. (1967). Statistical Methods. 6th edition Oxford and IBH Publishing Company, Calcutta.Sreenivasaiah, P. V. (1977). Studies on growth rate, egg production, fertility and hatchability in Japanese quails hatched in

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