Growth performance, body measurements and carcass traits of grey, brown and white varieties of Japanese quail in coastal climatic condition

The present study was conducted to assess the performance of Grey, Brown and White Japanese quail varieties under coastal climatic conditions of Odisha. Five hundred (500) day-old straight run Japanese quail chicks of three varieties viz. Grey, Brown and White chicks were randomly selected and reared in deep litter system at Central Poultry Development Organization (CPDO), Eastern Region, Bhubaneswar. The birds were kept in the brooder house from 0–3 weeks and then shifted to grower house for another 3 weeks. Weekly body weight, feed conversion ratio (FCR), body measurements and mortality of the birds were recorded up to 6 weeks. To evaluate different carcass traits three male and three female birds of each variety were sacrificed at 6 weeks. Throughout the experimental period, the Grey had significantly higher (P<0.05) body weight and significantly better (P<0.05) FCR than Brown and White varieties. The 6^th week body weight and cumulative FCR of the Grey, Brown and White were 173.79, 4.67; 168.23, 5.30 and 172.62, 5.28 respectively. The morphometric study revealed that there was no significant difference in shank length, keel length and wing length among the varieties. Further no significant difference in mortality was seen in different varieties of quails. Significantly higher dressing percentage (79.89%) was observed in male Grey and White variety (79.13%) than Brown (76.65%). From this study, it may be concluded that the Grey variety would be the preferred over Brown and White which may be reared for this climatic condition.