Volume 3 (Issue 1) 2023 Article 12

ABSTRACT:

A total of 200 one week old Japanese quail chicks constituting of 100 brown and 100 white plumage color were used to evaluate the correlation between bodyweight and morphometric measurements. The two quail color lines where kept in battery cages. Feed and water where provided adlibitum throughout the experimental period. All birds were allotted to 5 replicates and 2 treatments with a total of 20 birds per replicate. The measure of associations between traits was determined by the Pearson correlation coefficients. Significant positive correlations between shank length and body girth,(0.323**) shank length and wing length,(0.201*) shank length and body length,(0.503**) shank length and body weight,(0.508**) body girth and wing length,(.594**) body girth and body length,(0.261**) body girth and body weight, (.568**) wing length and body length,(0.594**) wing length and body weight (0.699**) at P < 0.01 alpha level among the Brown quails. Among the White quails correlations between shank length and body girth,(0.857**) shank length and wing length, (0.531**) shank length and body length,(0.831**) shank length and body weight, (0.786**) body girth and body length,(0.748**) body girth and body weight, (0.810**) wing length and body length, (0.503**)wing length and body weight (0.683**) were significantly positive at P < 0.01 alpha level. Pooled phenotypic correlations between body parameters of the two quails varieties show significantly (P < 0.01) positive association between shank length and body girth, shank length and wing length, shank length and body length, shank length and body weight, body girth and wing length, body girth and body length, body girth and body weight, wing length and body length, wing length and body weight. Among the White color variety SL, BG, BL and WL were the best values correlated with bodyweight while WL, BG, SL and BL were best among the browns when correlating with bodyweight as well. Combination of all linear body morphometric traits had more precision than the use of single traits in all the quails strains investigated. The study reveals high association between body weight and body linear measurements in the two colour lines studied.