Response to Divergent Selection for 35-Day Bodyweight and Realized Heritabilities over Two Generations in Japanese Quails

Selection for high (H) and low (L) body weight (BW) at 35 days of age in Japanese quail was practiced for 2 generations. The base population was a random bred population obtained from the National Veterinary Research Institute in Jos, Nigeria. Realized heritability for BW at 35 day of age for H and L males in the 2nd generation was 0.43 and 0.35 respectively, while they were 0.50 and 0.55 (respectively) for the H and L females. Body weight of the 2nd generation H and L females were 118.64 and 45.44g respectively, and that of control is 82.96g. Similar weights for the males were 120.2, 47.43 and 78.64g for the H, L and C line respectively in the 2nd generation. The H and L lines diverged significantly (P< 0.05) in body weight at 35- days of age through the two generations of selection, while the control line was intermediate to the selected lines for bodyweight. The results indicate that the base population is amenable to improvement through selection.Key words: body weight, high line, low line, control line, Japanese quails