Browsing by Author "A.O. Abdulraheem, J.O. Aremu, A. Mohammed, M.M. Shettima, N.K. Alade, J. Aliyu, A.O. Raji"

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    Repeating-Ability Potentials of Japanese Quail for Egg Quality Characteristics in Borno State, Nigeria
    (International Journal of Horticulture and Agriculture Research, 2025-12-25) A.O. Abdulraheem, J.O. Aremu, A. Mohammed, M.M. Shettima, N.K. Alade, J. Aliyu, A.O. Raji
    The research was conducted at the University of Maiduguri Livestock Teaching and Research Farm, Borno state to estimate repeatability of egg quality traits in Japanese quails. Eighty Japanese quail chicks of wild-type (20 males and 60 females) were randomly caged with a mating ratio 1:3 and used as base population in a Nested design. A total of 1,320 eggs collected from 110 quail hens from offspring of the base population. The first two eggs laid by each bird at weeks 10, 12, 14, 16, 18 and 20 of age were used for the egg quality traits analysis. Variance components and repeatability were estimated using Restricted Maximum Likelihood (REML) procedures. Repeatability was generally high, suggesting that characterizing the inherent transmitting ability of individual quail hen would require a few records. The highest (0.79±0.03) estimate for external trait was recorded for egg surface area and shell weight per unit surface area at sixteen weeks of age. No regular pattern was observed in these estimates. Among the traits related with albumen, upper limit (0.81±0.03) was recorded for Albumen index at age 20, while traits related with yolk had highest (0.65±0.05) coefficient for yolk weight (YW) at age18. The study revealed the age at which maximum repeatability for egg quality traits in Japanese quail could be expected. As estimates of some albumen-related traits increased with laying age, those of yolk did not follow any regular pattern. The more repeatability estimate increased with age, the lower the gains when selection is made.