Background and Objective: Poultry industry aims mainly to produce genetically superior animals with high productivity of egg and meat.
On a commercial scale, the purpose of most quail genetic improvement programs is to select genetically superior birds for meat and egg
production. The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of short-term selection through four generations of selection in
Japanese quail on egg number at the first 90 days of laying, estimate genetic parameters of egg production traits and estimate the
correlated response to selection. Materials and Methods: Data of 1,352 female Japanese quails were collected through five consecutive
generations (base and four selected generations) to estimate genetic gain, depending on breeding values, for Age at First Egg (AFE), Body
Weight at Sexual Maturity (BWSM), Weight at First Egg (WFE), Egg Number at first 90 days (EN90D) and Average Egg Weight (AEW).
Results: Estimates of heritability for egg production traits were ranged from 0.17 to 0.26. Moreover, positive genetic correlations were
detected (0.18 to 0.43) between all studied egg production traits, except the correlation between AFE and EN90D (-0.32). The contrast
among estimates was significant (p |
