TITLE:
Morphometric Differentiation between Four Strains of Japanese Quail (Coturnix coturnix japonica) Reared in Southern Côte d’Ivoire
AUTHORS:
Brahima Soro, Isidore Kouadio Kpandji, Sylvain Zadi Bopo, Stéphane Yves Aka, André N’guessan Yao, Didier Paulin Sokouri
KEYWORDS:
Quail, Coturnix japonica, Phenotypic Characterization, Improving
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Animal Sciences,
Vol.15 No.1,
January
26,
2025
ABSTRACT: The Japanese quail (Coturnix japonica) is a disease-resistant, high-productivity bird. It has few breeding constraints. A phenotypic characterization study of the Japanese quail was carried out in southern Côte d’Ivoire to gain a better understanding of this bird. The study involved 298 individuals. The phenotypes were white, black, gray, and red. A total of 11 morphometric parameters were examined. Variables were significantly different between the phenotype and sex groups. The female quail was larger than the male quail. The quail was 20.77 and 4.10 cm long. The head was supported by a 5.89 cm-long neck. The tail was 3.61 cm long. The wing length was 10.42 cm, and the thigh diameter was 2.12 cm. The tarsus was 3.39 cm long and 0.61 cm in diameter. The average quail weight was 297.06 g. The quails in this study exhibit a high degree of morphological variation between individuals in terms of plumage. These results can help develop strategies for developing and genetically improving this short-cycle resource.