Genetic parameters of body weight in japanese quails (Coturnix japonica Temminck & Schlegel, 1849) in the Philippines

Abstract

The establishment of breeding and selection programs to improve the genetic potential of poultry necessitates estimation of genetic parameters for different production and reproduction traits, Restricted maximum likelihood (REML) software was used to estimate the heritability (h2) and genetic correlations (r) of body weights in Japanese quails (C. japonica) from hatch to fifth week of age. A total of 224 Japanese quails composed of 56 males and 168 females arranged in a Completely Randomized Design (CRD) served as the base population. Body weight records, measured weekly from hatch to fifth week, were utilized to estimate the genetic parameters. Heritability estimates were 0.093±0.004, 0244±0.010, 0.031±0.001, 0082±0.004, 0325±0.016 and 0.025±0.001 for body weights at hatch (BW0), first week (BW1), second week (BW2), third week (BW3), fourth week (BW4) and fifth week (BW5), respectively. Low heritability estimates depict a decrease in additive genetic variance as the generations progressed. Negative genetic correlation was found between BW0 and BW4 (r=- 0.027). The significant positive genetic correlations of BW0 with BW1 (r=0.271); BW1 with BW2 (r=0.270), BW3 (r=0.294), BW4 (r=0.255), and BW5 (r=0.243); BW2 with BW3 (r=0.561), BW4 (r=0.649), and BW5 (r=0.503); BW3 with BW4 (r=0.726), and BW5 (r=0.551); and BW4 with BW5 (r=0.689) are expected to bring correlated responses in the other traits.