Study of fixed effects on some productive and reproductive characteristics in Japanese quail

The productive traits including body weight at different ages، carcass related-traits and reproductive traits including egg production، mean egg weight، fertility and hatchability were studied in a population of Japanese quail in the Research Center of Gorgan University of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources. The fixed effects for body weight were sex and generation-hatch، for carcass related-traits were sex and hatch and for reproductive traits was hatch effect. Descriptive statistics، including the test for normality and significance of fix effects، were obtained using the univariate and general linear model (GLM) procedures of SAS. The mean values of body weight at hatching، 7، 14، 21، 28، 35، 42 and 91 days of age were 8. 91، 32. 26، 72. 56، 124. 5، 171. 38، 203. 34، 232. 37and 270. 6 g، respectively. The average percentages of carcass، breast muscle، thigh muscle، skin، abdominal fat and intramuscular fat were 59. 12، 24. 12، 14. 51، 5. 2، 0. 8 and 8%، respectively. Also average values of age and weight at sexual maturity were 48. 32 days and 244. 12 g، respectively. The significant differences (P<0. 05) were observed between various levels of fixed effects for studied traits. Although the mean values of body weight and weight of carcass composition in females were higher than males، percentage of carcass composition in females were lower than males (P<0. 05).