The study made for the last 3 years from 1997–1999 at Central Poultry Breeding Farm, Mumbai to evaluate the seasonal effect on hatchability of all eggs set and percentage of mortality upto 58 weeks of age for 3 generations. It revealed significantly higher percentage of hatch (69.28) during summer than other two seasons i.e. rainy (59.90) and winter (53.62). The hatchability also reduced significantly during subsequent generations. Better hatching during summer can be attributed to healthy, green, hilly environmental location. The improvement in generation can be the contribution of genetic gain during subsequent years. The percentage of mortality significantly reduced during subsequent generation by 2.44%, 7.49% and 1.64% in chicks, growers and adults respectively in 2nd generation and 4.04%, 1.51% in chicks and growers respectively in 3rd generation. The mortality during summer was higher in all age groups except chicks than other two seasons but the difference was not statistically significant.
Japanese Quail, season, hatchability and mortality
