Influence of mating ratio on fertility and hatchability in japanese quail

An experiment was carried out to determine the ideal mating ratio in Japanese quails by evaluating its effects on fertility and hatchability traits maintained at University Poultry Farm, Mannuthy. A total of 376 breeder Japanese quails at 6 weeks of age were allotted randomly to four groups with a male female ratio of 1:3 (T1), 1:4 (T2), 1:5 (T3) and 1:6 (T4) with four replicate each. The number of male and female breeders employed in the treatment groups T1, T2, T3 and T4 were 24 and 72, 20 & 80, 16 & 80 and 12 & 72, respectively. The standard management practices were followed uniformly. Quail breeder ration which contained 22.75 per cent crude protein and 2650 Kcal metabolizable energy per Kg feed was fed to all mating groups. The overall mean fertility in the treatment groups T1, T2, T3 and T4 were 92.65, 90.45, 91.21 and 90.71 per cent, respectively and statistical analysis revealed no significant difference between treatment groups. The overall mean hatchability on total eggs in the treatment groups T1, T2, T3 and T4 were 86.22, 84.71, 83.86 and 84.78 per cent, respectively and statistical analysis did not reveal any significant difference (P<0.05) between treatment groups. The overall mean hatchability on fertile egg in treatment groups T1, T2, T3 and T4 were 93.04, 93.62, 91.95 and 93.43 per cent, respectively and the means were statistically similar (P<0.05). The critical evaluation of the result revealed that changing the mating ratio from 1: 3 to 1: 6 did not affect fertility and hatchability traits. Therefore, a sex ratio of 1: 6 is recommended in the quail line since it is more economical compared to other sex ratios of 1: 3, 4 and 5.