Egg production of black and brown Japanese quails raised under battery cage system

The objective of this study was to observe the production traits of black and brown Japanese quails. The materials used were female black and brown Japanese quails originated from two distinct breeding farms. One hundred Japanese quails were divided into four types of line as treatments: Black1 (L1), Brown1 (B1), Black2 (L2), and Brown2 (B2). Each treatment consisted of 25 quails as replication. The experiment used commercial feed for both starter and layer periods. This study used a Completely Randomized Design (CRD). The observed variables were body weight at 42 days, age at first egg, egg weight, and egg production. The data was analyzed with ANOVA, and differences among treatments was inspected using Duncan’s multiple range test (DMRT). Body weight and egg weight were significantly different among lines. Body weight in L2 and B1 populations were higher than L1 and B2 lines (P<0.05). In addition, higher egg weight was also found in L2 and B1 lines (P<0.05). Age at first egg-laying and egg production were not different among lines. These findings confirmed the presence of high variation among quails. A breeding strategy need to be developed to obtain quails with less diverse genetic background; thus, increase the farms’ management efficiency.