The Effects of Sound Stimulation During Incubation on Developmental Stability, Performance Traits, and Fear Responses in Japanese Quail

The aim of this study was to determine the effects of different sound stimulant applied to embryos during the incubation on performance characteristics, fear responses, and developmental stability of Japanese quails. For this purpose, a quiet environment, species-specific relaxing sounds, and species-specific disturbing sounds were applied to quail eggs placed in three homologous incubators in different rooms. A constant sound pressure (65 decibels) was used throughout the incubation, with stimulation for two minutes out of every twenty minutes. There were no differences between the experimental groups in terms of hatch weight and weekly body weights. Similarly, sound stimulation had no positive or negative effects on parameters of the Gompertz growth curve and slaughter-carcass traits. The mean values of tonic immobility duration of quails in both the disturbance and comfort group (72.15 and 71.35 sec, respectively) were higher than that of the control group (51.14 sec, P < 0.05). Moreover, when the developmental stability of the bilateral features was examined, fewer fluctuating asymmetry cases were detected in the disturbance and comfort groups. As a result, it is possible to say that the sound models applied to the embryos during incubation did not affect the performance characteristics, but had negative effects on developmental stability and fear responses.