Fitness traits in japanese quails across diverse genetic groups

The effects of genotype on hatchability and mortality was studied in Japanese quails in a complete 4 x 4 diallel cross involving four lines of Japanese quail Cari-Uttam (CU), Cari-Ujjwal (CJ), Cari-Sweta (CS) and Cari-Pearl (CP). Hatchability and mortality across different genetic groups was recorded. The percent hatchability based on total eggs set varied among different genetic groups, but was comparable among the two mating systems i.e. pure-bred and cross-bred. Among the four purebreeds, the hatchability was highest: 87.83 ± 2.26% in CU followed by 77.20 ± 4.73 and 75.73 ± 4.46% in CJ and CP, respectively, and least in CS (67.93 ± 5.93%). Between the cross-bred groups, highest hatchability of 85.64 ± 4.91% was seen in cross CP x CS and least in CP x CJ (66.31 ± 6.62%). The overall mortality was 9.36%, with almost half of this mortality (4.9%) in the Ist week. Among pure-breds, CU and CJ recorded 1.37 and 5.8% mortality, respectively. On contrary, CS and CP purebreds suffered much higher overall mortality (>20%) loss. The overall mortality in pure-breds was 11.13% while cross-breds showed lesser mortality (8.77%). It appeared that genotype had profound effect on both the fitness traits, with CS and CP genotypes having lower hatchability and higher mortality. Further, cross-breds exhibited better fitness i.e. higher hatchability and lower mortality as compared to pure-breds.