The Relationship Between Plumage Color, Genetic Group and Their Interaction on Quail’s Performance

The goal of this study is to identified the relationship between plumage color (white and brown), genetic group (Ukrainian and local) and their interaction on quail’s performance during their growth (1-6 weeks) and production (up to 8 weeks) periods. The study was conducted at Nineveh Research Department/Agricultural Research Office. The results for the growth period demonstrated that the Ukrainian quail was superior to the local quail for each of the characteristics of body weight, weight gain, feed consumption and Feed conversion ratio. The FC and FCR both increased significantly for the brown quail over the white quail for all weeks of the experiment, while the weekly weight gain fluctuated between the two colors. The brown quail also had a significant increase in body weight over the white quail. For the majority of the experiment’s weeks, the brown and white Ukrainian quail outperformed the brown and white local birds in most of the qualities being studied. During the production period, the Ukrainian quail’s FCR (g feed / g egg mass) and age at first egg’s lay were significantly lower than those of the local quail, The Ukrainian quail significantly outweighed the local quail in terms of the hen weight at first egg, first egg weight, the number, and weight of eggs produced during 8 weeks, eggs mass, eggs number/ female, hatching %, fertility %, and the hatching from the fertility %. The characteristics above did not appear to be affected by the white or brown plumage color, in comparison to local white and brown quail, the age at first egg and the FCR (g feed/g egg mass) were significantly lower in Ukrainian white and brown quail. Except for egg weight and food consumption /bird, all of the aforementioned variables were significantly higher in the Ukrainian white and brown quails than in the local white and brown quails.


Introduction
There was a massive expansion in population density due to economic development and lifestyle changes among the world's population, which was offset by an acute shortage of food security, which led to major changes in food production, doubling it to combat the threat of famine, especially in emerging countries.Poultry production reached approximately (25%) of global meat production [1,2].Table 1.The chemical composition and proportions of the components of the experimental diets.

Statistical Analysis
Complete Randomized Design (CRD) was utilized in a factorial experiment with two parameters (lines, plumage color of quail) to examine the results.The significant differences between the means were determined using Duncan's multi-range test [21].

Body Weight
The statistical analysis results in Table (2) shown that there is a significant increase (P < 0.05) in the body weight of Ukrainian quail chicks at one day old compared to local quail, the body weight was (9.84 and 8.34) g, respectively , for Ukrainian and local quails, the same table shows that the body weights of the Ukrainian birds increased significantly (P < 0.05) more than those of the local birds during the ensuing six weeks, the means were (27.90The weight of the Ukrainian white chicks at one day increased significantly (P < 0.05) above the Ukrainian brown chicks, which improved above the local white quail significantly (P < 0.05), which increased significantly from the local brown quail.Table 2.The effect of genetic groups, plumage color and their interaction on Body weight (g) of quail (mean + SD).As for the interaction between quail breed and feather color, the white and brown Ukrainian quail performed better than the white and brown local birds in most weights during the six weeks of the experiment.These results agreed with [8][9][10][11][12][13], that the plumage color significantly affects body weight at the age of one day, one week, two, three, four, five, and six weeks.

Weekly Weight Gain
The findings in table 3 demonstrated that the weight gain of Ukrainian quail was significantly (P < 0.05) superior to that of local quail, up until the experiment's conclusion, with the exception weight gain first five to six weeks, for the Ukrainian and local quails, the weight gain was attained for the first week and the subsequent six weeks, both weights are respectively (18.06, 46.43, 50.18, 40.53, 33.12, and 25.25) g and (15.66, 40.34, 40.60, 40.88, 22.90, and 27.73) g.Additionally, the total weight gain of the Ukrainian and local quails were (213.58;188.11) g, respectively.According to [12] , the difference in genotype may account for the difference in weight.Regarding the effect of plumage color, it was observed that there was non-significant superiority of brown quail compared to white quail in most breeding weeks except for the weight gain for the first week in favor of brown, While there was a significant superiority of the white quail over the brown quail during the fifth and sixth week .Table 3.The effect of genetic groups, plumage color and their interaction on weekly weight gain (g) of quail (mean + SD).This resulted in the absence of significant differences in the total weight gain which was (203.96 , 197.720 g) for white and brown birds respectively, this may be explained by the brown bird's high susceptibility to accelerating growth and their capacity to store lipids and protein, among other findings, also this is explained by the fact that brown birds are less mobile, nervous and hostile [7].Regarding the interaction between the white and brown plumage colors of the Ukrainian and local quail types, it should be noted that the Ukrainian quail, with its white and brown colors, was significantly better (P < 0.05) than the local quail in terms of weight gain, which came to (217.13, 210.02, 190.81, and 185.41 g, respectively.Throughout the many weeks of the experiment, there were definite differences between the local white and brown quails and those from Ukraine.These findings supported [10,12,13], but disagree with [8,14].

Weekly Feed Consumed
The results in Table (4) shows that the feed consumed per bird per week for the local quail increased significantly (P < 0.05) in the second and third weeks compared to the Ukrainian quail, neither there were no significant differences in the meal that the two varieties of quail consumed in the ensuing weeks nor the total amount consumed.In most periods of the experiment, there was a significant increase (p < 0.05) in the amount of feed consumed weekly by local brown birds compared to local white birds, Ukrainian white and brown birds, while no significant difference was observed in the amount of feed consumed by Ukrainian white and brown birds in general except for the fourth week, when Ukrainian brown quail's feed consumption increased.These results agreed with [7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14].

Feed Conversion Ratio
For all weeks of the growth period and for total period the FCR value of Ukrainian birds decreased significantly (P < 0.05) than that of local birds except for the fourth week which was no significant differences between them, but during the fifth week, the feed conversion factor of local quails decreased significantly compared to Ukrainian quails as shown in table (5).As for the effect of the color of the feathers, it is noted that there is a significant superiority of the white quail birds compared to the brown ones, except for the fourth week, when there were no significant differences between them.The weekly FCR and total FRC was (1.19, 2.33, 2.99, 5.29, 6.08, and 3.01) and (1.98, 3.19, 3.10, 8.54, 11.49, and 4.03) g feed /g gain, for white and brown birds respectively.In contrast, the feed conversion efficiency of Ukrainian white and brown birds as well as local white birds decreased significantly (P < 0.05) from the feed conversion ratio of brown local birds for the entirety of the experiment, with the exception of the 4th week , during which no differences in feed conversion ratio were discernible among all bird species, additionally, there is a five to six week period where only the white local birds and the brown Ukrainian birds show statistically significant differences (P < 0.05).The results agreed with [8,9,10,12], disagree with [7,13,14].The researchers attributed the difference in the FCR to genetic susceptibility and speed of growth [7].

Sexual Maturity (Age at First Egg Laid (AFE))
The Ukrainian quail were earlier in laying the first egg (P < 0.05) compare to local quail which was (35.75 and 39.72) days respectively.The age to laying the first egg for white and brown plumage, was not significantly impacted by the plumage color (37.84, 37.63) days respectively.While the age to lay the first egg in Ukrainian white and brown birds decreased significantly (P < 0.05) compared to the age needed to lay the first egg in local white and brown birds respectively (35.63, 35.88, 40.06 and 39.38) days.These findings supported the findings of [8,9,10] that the quail's plumage color influences the age at the first egg was laid.According to [22], the reason could be that birds that matured sexually earlier converted their food intake into the production of eggs rather than body growth, which is what happened to birds that matured later.

Female , s Body Weight at First Egg (FBWFE)
According to Table (6), when a female Ukrainian quail laid its first egg, it's weight grew significantly (P < 0.05) compared to local female's weights (227.38 and 206.00) g, respectively.Additionally, it should be observed that the brown females were mathematically heavier than the white females when they laid the first egg (220.81 and 212.58) g, respectively.In terms of body weight when laying the first egg, the white and brown Ukrainian females were significantly (P < 0.05) heavier than the local brown females, this was due to the interaction between the type of quail and the color of the plumage.These results agreed with [8,9,10].

First Egg Weight (FEW)
The average weight of the first egg for Ukrainian was significantly (p≤0.05)higher (10.96 g) than for the local quail ( 8.76 g), respectively.The first egg's weight, which was 9.73 and 9.99 g for the white and brown quails, respectively, had no significant effect on the color of the plumage, The weight of the first egg of the Ukrainian quail with white and brown plumage was found to be significantly higher (P < 0.05) than that of the local quail with white and brown plumage.The association between body weight and egg weight is highly substantial, suggesting that the high egg weight may be caused by the high body weight [23].

Eggs Number Produced
During the 8 weeks, the Ukrainian quail produced significantly (P < 0.05) more eggs than the local quail did.during this time, the Ukrainian quail produced (54.03 ) eggs, when the local quail produced just (48.19) eggs, the number of eggs laid over the course of eight weeks reached (51.16 and 51.06) eggs, respectively, for white and brown quails, indicating that plumage color did not significantly affect egg production.According to Table (6), the number of eggs laid by the white Ukrainian quail increased significantly (P < 0.05) over the brown Ukrainian quail, which was significantly superior (P < 0.05) to the local brown quail, which was significantly superior (P < 0.05) to the local white quail during eight weeks of production.These findings were consistent with those of [9,11,24,25,26] in the presence of substantial differences in the number of eggs laid down related to the color of the plumage, it disagreed with [19] that the hue of the plumage was a significant factor in the variation in egg production.Table 6.Shows the effect of genetic groups, plumage color and their interaction on some 8 weeks production traits of quail (mean + SD).Vertical different letters refer to significant differences at (P < 0.05).

Average Egg Weight
The average weight of eggs laid over eight weeks by either Ukrainian or local quail reached (11.49 and 11.21) g, respectively, showing no significant difference between the two varieties.Additionally, there was no significant difference between white and brown quail in terms of the average weight of eggs laid over a period of eight weeks (11.46 vs. 11.24g).The average weight of eggs laid during an 8-week did not differ significantly between Ukrainian and local white and brown birds, therefore there was no significant influence of the interaction between the two species of quail or the color of their white and brown plumage, these findings supported the findings of [10] that the weight of the eggs produced was unaffected by the color of the plumage.

Hen Day Egg Production% (HDEP)
Table ( 6) reveals a significant increase (P < 0.05) in the daily egg output of Ukrainian female quail compared to local quail (96.42% and 85.80%), respectively.About the effect of plumage color there were no significant difference in HDEP which was (91.19% and 91.02%), respectively.While there was a significant superiority (P < 0.05) in the HDEP for the white Ukrainian quail over its brown counterpart, which was significantly superior (P < 0.05) over the local brown plumage quail, which was significantly superior (P < 0.05) over the local white plumage quail.These results may be explained by the increased uniformity in Ukrainian quail compared to local quail.According to [27] this has an advantageous impact on HDEP%.

Feed Conversion Efficiency (gm feed / gm egg mass)
Table (6) demonstrates that the FCR (g feed / g egg mass) for the local quail, which is 3.54, is significantly higher (P < 0.05) than the FCR for the Ukrainian quail, which is 2.58.The FCR was unaffected by the quail's plumage color, with averages for white and brown plumage quails reaching 3.25 and 2.86 grams of feed per gram of egg mass, respectively.White and brown Ukrainian quail's FCR values were considerably lower (P < 0.05) than local white quail's FCR g feed/g egg mass.

Hatching %
From the results in Table 7, it is notice that the Ukrainian quail has a significant advantage (P < 0.05) over the local quail in hatching%, with averages reaching (81.00 and 72.61)%.The explanation may be related to genetic variations between them, can alter an egg's ability to hatch [15] .While the hatching (74.20% and 79.41%), respectively, was unaffected by the color of the white or brown quail plumage.The hatching percentage of the Ukrainian brown quail, however, did not significantly differ from that of the other groups; but it was only higher (P < 0.05) than that of the white local quail.These findings were in agreement with those of [7,18 ,19] in that there were no significant differences brought on by the effect of plumage color.

Fertility%
As shown in Table (7), the fertility of the Ukrainian quail significantly (P < 0.05) outperformed that of the local quail, with values (93.62 and 83.88%, respectively.The statistical analysis findings did not reveal significant differences due to the influence of the brown and white quail plumage (85.44 and 92.05)%.But for interaction between genetic groups and plumage color we should note that the local white quail's fertility considerably decrease (P < 0.05) compared to others.The findings of [7,18,19] were supported by these results, which indicated that the hue of quail plumage had no significant impact on fertility.It did not support the findings of [8,15,16,17,20] who discovered that the color of quail plumage had a significant effect (P < 0.05) on the fertility.

Hatching from Fertilized Eggs %
The percentage of hatching from fertilized eggs increased significantly (P < 0.05) for the Ukrainian quail over the percentage of hatching from the fertilized eggs for the local quail, as it is noted from Table (7) that these percentages reached (84.20 and 74.66)%, respectively.Neither the white nor the brown group of quail plumage significantly affected the hatching rate of fertilized eggs.However, the hatching% from fertilized eggs was only significantly (P < 0.05) higher in the Ukrainian quail with white and brown plumage than in the local quail with white plumage.The differences in male and female fertility rates resulting from genetic and environmental variables could be the cause of the variations in fertility and hatchability rates.Decreasing hatching ratios are a natural result of lower reproduction rates [17].
Additionally, it significantly (P < 0.05) increased body weight at one day old in the chicks with white plumage over the chicks with brown plumage, which was (9.48 and 8.70 g, respectively).On the other hand, for all six weeks of the experiment, it increased significantly (P < 0.05) the weekly body weight of brown birds above white birds(24.80,68.37,112.37, 150.83, 181.16, and 223.42)and (8.70 , 27.11 , 70.32 , 117.10 , 160.04 , 185.73 and 206.42) g , respectively.
Vertical different letters refer to significant differences at (P < 0.05).

Table 4 .
The average feed consumed by Ukrainian birds was (54.67,  110.74, 128.25, 172.20, and 204.03) and for local birds (80.95, 134.26, 118.91, 182.04, and 214.44), and total food consumption (6668.. , 060860) g/bird respectively.However, throughout all weeks of the growth period, the average of feed consumed per week by brown birds grew significantly (P < 0.05) compared to that of white birds, (84.48, 143.29, 132.47, 193.70, and 232.45) and (51.14, 101.70, 114.69, 160.54, and 186.02) g brown and white birds g/week/bird, respectively .Also the total feed consumed by brown birds increased compared to white birds (786.38 and 614.09) g, respectively.Showed the effect of genetic groups, plumage color and their interaction on weekly food consumption (g/bird) (mean + SD).

Table 5 .
The effect of genetic groups, plumage color and their interaction on feed conversion ratio (g feed / g gain) (mean + SD).

Table 7 .
The effect of genetic groups and plumage color on fertility and Hatching traits of quail (mean + SD).Vertical different letters refer to significant differences at (P s< 0.05).