Animal and Veterinary Sciences

A total number of two hundred day-old quails of mixed sexes were assessed for body weight, wing length, thigh length and breast girth from third week to the tenth week of age. Analyzed data showed that there was highly significant (P<0.01) house x sex interaction effects on live body weight. This means that body weight is house and sex dependent. Male and female birds reared inside the cage were superior in terms of body weight to those on deep litter. Generally, the rate of growth from third to seventh week was higher across both housing systems and sexes, but decreased after seventh week of age. In the same vein, There was highly significant (P<0.01) house x sex interaction effects on wing length, thigh length and breast girth of quail birds. It infers that these growth traits are house and sex dependent. Male and female birds reared inside the cage were superior in terms of body weight and other growth traits to those on deep litter. Since cage birds were restricted, they were able to utilize feeds given optimally leading to increase in muscle cells and body size. In essence, cage system of rearing produced more quail meat than deep litter, and should be considered for increased productivity and animal proteins supply.