Genetic variability of meat quality characteristics in Japanese quail (Coturnix coturnix japonica)

The aim of the present study was to estimate the genetic and phenotypic parameters for meat quality and performance characteristics in Japanese quail (Coturnix coturnix japonica). Heritability estimates calculated from animal model for all characteristics have changed from moderate to high in size. The heritabilities of ultimate pH (pHu) and colour characteristics such as lightness (L*), redness (a*), yellowness (b*), chroma (c*), hue (h*) were 0.48 and 0.23, 0.45, 0.22, 0.38, 0.23, respectively. These results suggest a predominant role of genetics in the control of meat quality characteristics in Japanese quail. pHu was negatively correlated with body weight (-0.26) and breast weight (-0.18) at 35 days of age. But, it was poorly positively correlated with breast yield (0.06). Phenotypic correlations between body weight and colour characteristics were 0.01 for L*, 0.16 for a*, -0.09 for b*, 0.07 for c* and 0.18 for h*. The phenotypic correlations between breast yield and colour characteristics were in general low in a negative range. The pHu had negative phenotypic correlations with L* (-0.26), a* (-0.15), b* (-0.12) and c* (-0.18)