The study was conducted to identify the phenotypic variation between local quail populations in three agro-ecological zones (AEZs) of Ghana. A total of 540 quails (180 males and 360 females) were involved in the study. In all, five morphometric traits: body weight (BW), body length (BL), shank length (SL), body girth (BG), and wing length (WL) were used for the investigation. The data collected were subjected to analysis of variance as well as canonical discriminant analysis using Minitab19 software. It was revealed that sex had no significant (p>0.05) effect on morphometric traits measured except BW. Agro-ecological zone however, influenced all morphometric traits. The BW of local quails in the transitional zone (218.32g) was significantly (p<0.05) heaviest, followed by those in the Semi-deciduous forest (211.66g) and then Coastal Savanna (187.68g). Furthermore, it was deduced from the canonical discriminant analysis that the most vital trait for discriminating among the populations was BW. The Coastal Savanna had the local quail population with the highest similarity (71.7%); implying that quails within this AEZ may have come from related sources with similar genetic identity while the Semi-deciduous Forest had the lowest (12.2%) similarity, which could be due to the fact that the birds may have come from different sources. The largest Mahalanobis distance (D2) was found between the Coastal Savanna and the Semi-deciduous forest (2.46) and therefore, an inter-breeding program could be designed for quails selected from these two AEZs. Further studies could consider the molecular characterization of local quail populations within the three AEZs to provide additional information for decision making in designing of appropriate breed improvement scheme for quails.
quails, discriminant analysis, morphometric traits, agro-ecological zone, Mahalanobis distance, Coturnix coturnix
Ali, W., Dar, U. S., Javed, I. & Usama, H. M. (2021). Morphometrical Comparisons Between the Sexes of Common Quail (Coturnix coturnix) in District Abbottabad, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. JournalNX, 7 (4), 119-124. https://repo.journalnx.com/index.php/nx/article/view/2930
Akintan, A., Osaiyuwu, O. & Akinyemi, M. (2017). Genetic variation of the Japanese quail (Coturnix Coturnix Japonica) based on biochemical polymorphism. Biotechnology in Animal Husbandry, 33(3), 321–332. https://doi.org/10.2298/bah1703321a
Chimezie, V. O., Akintunde, A. O., Ademola, A. A. & Aina, F. A. (2022). Principal Component Analysis and Correlation between Bodyweight and Morphometric Traits in Japanese Quail Coturnix coturnix japonica. Aceh Journal of Animal Science, 7(2), 47-52. DOI: 10.13170/ajas.7.2.24533
Coyne, J. A., Kay, E. H. & Pruett-Jones, S. (2008). The genetic basis of sexual dimorphism in birds. Evolution, 62(1), 214–219. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1558-5646.2007.00254.x
Dudusola, I. O., Adeyemi, E. A. & Oyeromi, O. F. (2018). Prediction of body weight from linear body measurements in Japanese quail. Nigerian Journal of Animal Production, 45(4), 9-15.
FAO. (2012). Phenotypic characterization of animal genetic resources . FAO Animal Production and Health Guidelines No. 11. Rome.
Hassan, E. E., Ayman, E. T., Heba, A. B. & Magda, I. A. (2019). Growth and Reproductive performance of Japanese Quails (Coturnix Coturnix japonica) under various environments of light colors. Slovenian Veterinary Research, 56(22), 119-127. https://doi.org/10.26873/SVR-749-2019
Himel, T., Sejuti, D. T. & Jahid, H. T. (2020). Mporphometric, productive and reproductive performances of Japanese quail (Coturnix japonica) iin Sylhet city of Bangladesh. Journal of Animal Breeding and Genomics, 1-9.
Kadraoui, S., Mennani, A. & Semir, B. S. (2020). Phenotypic and morphometric characterization of the various strains of quail raised in Algeria. Genetics and biodiversity journal, 4(1), 81–92. https://doi.org/10.46325/gabj.v4i1.127
Minitab, LLC. (2020). Getting Started with Minitab 19 for Windows. https://www.minitab.com
Momoh, M. O., Gambo, D. & Dim, I. N. (2014). Genetic parameters of Growth, body and egg traits in Japanese quails (Cotournix cotournix japonica) reared in southern guinea savannah of Nigeria. Journal of Applied biosciences, 79, 6947-6954. http://dx.doi.org/10.4314/jab.v79i1.8
Obike, O. M., Nwachukwu, E. N. & Onwuchekwa, J. U. (2016). Phenotypic Correlations of Body Weight and Linear Body Traits in Heavy, Medium and Low Body Weight Lines of Sigmond Strain of Japanese quails in Humid Rainforest Zone of Nigeria. Nigerian Journal of Animal Production, 43(1), 1-9.
Ofori, S. A. & Hagan, J. K. (2020). Genetic and non-genetic factors influencing the performance of the West African Dwarf (WAD) goat kept at the Kintampo Goat Breeding Station of Ghana. Trop Anim Health Prod. http://www.springer.com/home?SGWID=0-0-1003- 0-0&aqId=4016277&download=1&checkval= ba6323830f57df580c6c355423cfdfba
Ofori, S. A., Hagan, J. K. & Kyei, F. (2021). Morphometric characterization and differentiation of West African Dwarf goat populations in Ghana. Trop Anim Health Prod 53, 69 1-14. https://doi.org/10. 1007/s11250-020-02498-x
Ogah, D. M. (2013). Canonical Discriminant Analysis of Morphometric Traits in Indigenous Chicken Genotypes. Trakia Journal of Sciences, 2, 170-174. http://tru.uni-sz.bg/tsj/N2,%20Vol.11,%202013/D.M.Ogah.pdf
Olawumi, S. O. (2015). Carcass Characteristics of Coturnix Quail as Affected by Sex and Housing System. International Journal of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, 3(3), 76–79.
Qureshi, N. A., Ali, S., Abbasi, N. A. & Rakha, B. A. (2016). Morphometrics of Common Quail (Coturnix coturnix ) in Pothohar , Pakistan. Pakistan Journal of Wildlife. 7(2), 37–40.
Rathert, T. Ç., Güven, İ., & Üçkardeş, F. (2017). Sex determination of Japanese quails (Coturnix coturnix Japonica) using with zoometric measurements. Turkish Journal of Agriculture-Food Science and Technology, 5(9), 1002-1005.
Tavaniello, S., Maiorano, G., Siwek, M., Knaga, S. & Witkowski, A. (2014). Growth performance, meat quality traits, and genetics mapping of quantitative trait loci in 3 generations of japanese quail populations (Coturnix japonica). Poultry Science, 93(8), 2129-2140. https://doi.org/10.3382/ps.2014-03920
Wamuyu, L., Mberu, M., Imboma, T., Obanda, V., Agwanda, B., Lichoti, J., Ngeiywa, K. J. & Ommeh, S. C. (2017). Phenotypic variations between wild and farm-reared quails of Kenya. Livestock Research for Rural Development, 29(6). http://www.lrrd.org/lrrd29/6/somm29111.html
