Khalid Hamid Hassan, Ali Rafea Abd – Alsattar, Homam Abed Alkareem Yassen, Haeder Thier Abed, Dalal Abed Alrazak Abdul Wahab
الملخص العربي
Background: There are many varieties of Japanese quail were reared in Iraq for both egg and meat production
purpose. The variety classification was according to the color of plumage. Background: The study was conducted in poultry
farm of Animal Resources – College of Agriculture – University of Diyala - Iraq, to compare two varieties of Japanese quail,
white plumage quail and Gray plumage quail for their performance in meat production and some measurements of vital organs.
Materials and Methods: The experimental units were 36 birds slaughtered at ages 6, 8 and 10 week of age, and measurements
took for the following traits : live body weight, carcass weight, dress percentage, breast part weight, thigh weight, heart weight,
liver weight, gizzard weight and total intestine length. The experiment performed according to 2 × 2× 3 factorial experiment in
randomized complete block design with three replicates. Results: the results showed that there were highly significant
differences among males and females in body weight, dress percentage, gizzard weight, liver weight and intestine length. The
white variety has the relative heart weight significantly greater than gray variety. There were significant effect of age × variety
interaction on gizzard weight, besides significant effect of age × sex on liver weight.