ABSTRACT

The study was designed to examine egg quality characteristics of cinnamon brown Japanese quails, and to compare the effects ofthe floor system and cage system on egg production. The investigation was earned out at the Teaching and Research Farm of the College of Animal Science and Animal Production and the Theriogenology laboratory of college of veterinary medicine, Michael Okpara University of Agriculture Umudike, Abia state. A base population of 40 adult cinnamon brown Japanese quail consisting of 10 males and 30 females were obtained from the poultry unit, Teaching and Research Farm Michael Okpara University of Agriculture and used to generate 120 birds used for the experiment. 1624eggs were laid, 714eggs in the cage and 910eggs in the floor from week 6 through week 14.The result were obtained using student T test model. The internal and external traits were measured. Thus, floor system of management is more economical to the farmer as it produced significantly heavier eggs and consequently recorded higher means for egg weight(9-llg) and egg length(30-32mm)than the cage system of management (8-10g) and (29-31mm), Haugh unit (33.5500-52.2767) and Egg number respectively. There was significant difference (p<0.05) observed in egg number, egg weight, length, and Egg width between the two system of management ofJapanese quails observed over the weeks ofthe experiment. Floor system of management recorded a higher difference (p<0.05) than cage system of management in all the parameters. There was no steady pattern observed in the internal egg quality traits between the two system of management ofJapanese quails from week 6 to week 14 of the experiment as the result above decrease at some time during the week and increase in other weeks. It was considered that the differences between the results of this research and the results of other researches might have resulted from the genetic structure, health condition, flock age, use of different content diet in feeding, and the differences in the care and management conditions of the quails. It should be taken into consideration that only early quality characteristics of Japanese quails are measured while conducting similar investigations as delay could lead to loss offertility and quality