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Study of genetic and non-genetic effects on cumulative survival in a crossbred population of quail

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Abstract

Minimizing bird mortality in the commercial quail breeding industry is important from an economic and welfare perspective. Genetic and non-genetic factors can influence on the cumulative survival of the birds (CS). Accordingly, this study aimed to investigate non-genetic factors on CSs (cumulative survival of the birds from hatch to 5 (CS1), 10 (CS2), 15 (CS3), 20 (CS4), 25 (CS5), 30 (CS6), 35 (CS7), 40 (CS8), and 45 (CS9) days of age), and estimation of the genetic parameters for CSs in crossbred population of quail. Data set included 1794 records from crossbred chicks hatched from 70 sires and 72 dams. The fixed effects were analyzed using an animal model by ASReml software, and all traits were analyzed using Bayesian method via Gibbs sampling by fitting of 6 threshold animal models including the direct genetic effect, the maternal permanent environmental effect, and the maternal genetic effect. The best fitted model for each trait was selected based on the deviance information criteria. Hatch number, the month of hatch, and combination of chickens showed a significant effect on CSs, but the sex of chickens does not have a significant effect on CSs. However, females have higher survival than males (except for CS1). With the best model, the highest and lowest direct heritability was estimated for CS5 (0.386) and CS3 (0.250), respectively. The maternal genetic effect was significant for CS1, CS2, CS3, and CS4 traits, but the maternal permanent environmental effect was significant only for CS1. The range of maternal heritability for CS1 to CS4 traits was estimated from 0.064 to 0.111, and ratio of the permanent environmental variance to phenotypic variance for CS1 was 0.021. The result showed that increasing of the birds’ survival could be performed by correcting non-genetic factors and genetic selection for CSs considering the maternal genetic effects in younger ages.

Highlights

• In the commercial quail breeding industry, the bird mortality is important from an economic and welfare perspective.

• Improving quail survival can be achieved by controlling the genetic and non-genetic factors affecting on survival, so knowledge of these factors is necessary.

• The combination of crossbred chickens had a significant effect on cumulative survival traits.

• The Cumulative survival traits in the crossbred population had relatively high genetic diversity, so genetic selection for these traits could be effective.

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Data availability

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the Research Center of Domestic Animals (RCDA) in the University of Zabol, Zabol, Iran, for the cooperation in performing this research.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Ostrich, Special Domestic Animals Institute, Research Institute of Zabol, Zabol, Iran

    Hadi Faraji-Arough

  2. Department of Animal Science, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Zabol, Zabol, Iran

    Ali Maghsoudi & Mohammad Rokouei

  3. Department of Animal Science, Faculty of Agriculture, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran

    Ali Maghsoudi

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Contributions

H. Faraji-Arough: data curation, conceptualization, visualization, formal analysis, methodology, writing—review and editing; A. Maghsoudi: conceptualization, methodology, writing—review and editing; M. Rokouei: formal analysis, methodology, investigation, writing—original draft.

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Correspondence to Hadi Faraji-Arough.

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This article does not contain any studies with human participants performed by any of the authors. Animal handling and experimental procedures of the study were performed based on following the general ethical guideline of the Research Animal Committee of the RCSDA and Iranian Council of Animal Care (1995).

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Faraji-Arough, H., Maghsoudi, A. & Rokouei, M. Study of genetic and non-genetic effects on cumulative survival in a crossbred population of quail. Trop Anim Health Prod 55, 5 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11250-022-03418-x

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