PSXIII-33 Hen weight and feed consumption effects on egg weight of three different laying groups of quail.

摘要

The short generation interval, hardiness, low maintenance cost and the fairly disease resistant nature of quails during rearing has endeared it to poultry farmers for its meat and eggs in the hot humid zones of Nigeria. Several factors have been identified to be responsible for the quality and quantity of eggs produced by this specie and this study aimed at investigating the influence of hen’s body weight and feed consumed during lay on the frequency and weight of eggs. A total of 17 quail hens at 28 weeks of age were individually housed, reared and fed, while measurements were taken on the weight of hen, feed consumed and eggs laid over a period of 35 days. Based on the number of eggs laid, the hens were classified as low, medium or high laying groups and the egg weight was evaluated for a total of 435 eggs comprising 75, 71 and 289 respectively for laying groups. The statistical model describing egg weight is given as Yijkl = µ + Gi + Hj + Fk + Ɛijkl where laying group is a fixed factor, while hen weight and feed consumed were covariates. There was no statistical difference (P>0.05) in the weight of hens across the three laying groups, however laying group significantly (P<0.05) affect feed consumption and egg weight (Table 1). The statistical model revealed that hen weight was the largest source of variation on egg weight with moderate significant influence by the feed consumed by the laying hens. Heavier eggs are laid by lighter hens with fewer frequency of lay, while the high layers significantly consumed more feed than the other groups. Since patronage of quail products is more for the eggs than the meat, it is recommended that the light weight birds should be used more for egg production.