performance and some blood parameter of. Japanese Quail during laying period". 4. I.1.Quail Behaviors. 4. I.1.1 Ingestive behavior. 4. I.1.2 movement activities.
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Effect of some managerial factors on behavior and performance of quail Thesis · May 2008
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Acknowledgement In the name of “ALLAH” most gracious, most merciful, I wish to express my deepest thanks and gratitude to Prof. Dr. Mohamed Moursy Ramadan Karousa, Professor of Animal Behavior and Management, and Head of Animal Hygiene, Behavior and Management Department, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Benha University for his supervision, kind encouragement, valuable guidance and continuous interest which are responsible for the completion of this work. My sincere thanks to Prof. Dr. Gaffar Mahmoud El-Gendi, Professor of Poultry Management and Head of Animal Production Department,
Faculty of Agriculture,
Benha University for his supervision, indispensable support, sincere cooperation worthful advices and generous help throughout the work. I sincerely would like to thank Dr. Essam Ali Mahmoud Assistant Professor of Animal, Poultry Behavior and Management, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Benha University, for his help, guidance, patience, understanding and his suggestions in the work protocol and preparation of this dissertation. I sincerely would like to thank Dr. Souad Abel-Fattah Ahmed Assistant Professor of Animal, Poultry Behavior and Management, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Benha University, for his help, guidance, patience, understanding and his suggestions in the work protocol and preparation of this dissertation. I wish also to express my appreciation to Dr. Ossama El-Garhey, Assistant Lecture of Poultry Management, Faculty of Agriculture, Benha University for his great help in the statistical analysis of the data. I would also like to thank all my colleagues in the department of Animal Hygiene and Management for their help and cooperation. Too many thanks to my Family (My Father, My Mother, My brother Mostafa and My sisters Asmaa and Gehad) and my wife Rania for their patience and support and my kids; Adam and Arwa.
i
CONTENTS Page 1. INTRODUCTION
1
2. REVIEW OF LITERATURE
4
Experiment I: "Effect of housing system, age and period of the day on some behavioral patterns, performance and some blood parameter of
4
Japanese Quail during laying period" I.1.Quail Behaviors
4
I.1.1 Ingestive behavior
4
I.1.2 movement activities
7
1.1.3.Resting behavior
10
I 1.4 Comfort Behavior
11
I.2. Effect of housing system on performance of Japanese quail
14
I.2.1 Egg production performance
15
I.2.2 Egg quality traits
16
I.2.3 Fertility Trait
19
I.2.4 Hatchability performance
19
I.3 Welfare problems of housing systems
20
I.3.1 Cage system
20
I.3.2- Deep litter system
21
I.4. Effect of housing system on some blood constituents of female Japanese quail I.5.Effect of housing system on mortality rate of Japanese quail
21
24
Experiment II: "Effect of sex ratio on behavior and performance of Japanese quail"
25
&217(176 Page II.1. Quail behavior
25
II.1.1 Aggressive pecking
25
II.I.2 Sexual behavior
27
II.2 productive performance
29
II.3 reproductive performance
30
II.3.1 fertility trait
31
II.3.2 Hatchability trait
35
Experiment III: "The influence of age, body weight and carcass composition on onset of sexual maturity in
42
Japanese quail" III.1. Puberty and sexual maturity in Japanese quail III.2. Effect of age and sex on the live body weight of Japanese quail III.3. Effect of age and sex on the carcass weight of Japanese quail III.4. Influence of age and sex on shank length and liver weight of Japanese quail III.5. Influence of age on ovarian weight of Japanese quail III.6. Influence of age on testicular weight of Japanese quail III.7. Influence of age and sex on chemical composition of Japanese quail meat.
42 44
47
48 48 49
49
III.8. Influence of age, body weight and chemical composition on the onset of sexual maturity in
50
Japanese quail (correlation coefficient)
3. MATERIALS AND METHODS
52
1. Birds
52 iii
Page 2. Preventive treatment
54
3. Vaccination program
54
Experiment 1
55
1- Birds
55
2- Housing systems
55
3- Feeding and ration formulation
57
4- Behavior observation
59
5- Productive performance
61
6- Mortality rate
64
7- Physiological measurements
65
Experiment II
66
1- Birds
66
2-Management of flock
67
3. Medication
67
4. Behavioral observation
67
Experiment III
69
1- Birds
69
2- Puberty and Sexual maturity ages in Japanese quail
69
3- Chemical analysis of composition 70 3.1. Determination of moisture %
71
3.2. Determination of total protein
72
3.3. Determination fat %
72
3.4. Determination of ash %
72
&217(176 Page 4. RESULTS
75
5. DISCUSSION
127
6. SUMMARY
179
7. CONCLUSIONS
188
8. REFERENCES
190
9. ARABIC SUMMARY
215
v
LIST OF TABLES No. Table 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19
The environmental temperature and the relative humidity percentages during the experiment Composition and calculated analysis of basal quail diet fed during the experimental period Least square means and standard errors ( X ± S.E) for ingestive behavior of Japanese quail as affected by studied factors Analysis of variance for the data presented in Table (3) Least square means and standard errors ( X ± S.E) for movement activities of Japanese quail as affected by studied factors Analysis of variance for the data presented in table (5). Least square means and standard errors ( X ± S.E) for resting behavior of Japanese quail as affected by studied factors Analysis of variance for the data presented in table (7). Least square means and standard errors ( X ± S.E) for comfort behaviors of Japanese quail as affected by studied factors Analysis of variance for the data presented in Table (9). Least square means and standard errors ( X ± S.E) for productive traits of Japanese quail as affected by studied factors Analysis of variance for the data presented in Table (11). Least square means and standard errors ( X ± S.E) for exterior egg quality traits of Japanese quail as affected by studied factors Analysis of variance for the data presented in Table (13). Least square means and standard errors ( X ± S.E) for internal egg quality factors of Japanese quail as affected by studied factors Analysis of variance for the data presented in Table (15). Least square means and standard error ( X ± S.E) for reproductive performance of Japanese quail as affected by studied factors Analysis of variance for the data presented in Table (18). Effect of housing system on percentage of some problems
Page 57 58 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 83 84 84 85 85 86 87 88
/,672)7$%/(6 No. Table
20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38
Page
recorded under different housing systems in Japanese quail. Least Square means and standard errors ( X ±S.E) for the effect of housing systems on some blood constituents of female Japanese quail Analysis of variance for data presented in Table (19). Effect of housing system on mortality percentage during laying period in Japanese quail. Least square means and standard errors ( X ±S.E) for aggressive pecking behavior of Japanese quail as affected by studied factors. Analysis of variance for the data presented in Table (23). Least square means and standard errors ( X ±S.E) for sexual behavior of Japanese quail as affected by studied factors Analysis of variance for the data presented in Table (25). Least square means and standard error ( X ±S.E) for productive and reproductive traits of Japanese quail as affected by studied factors Analysis of variance for data presented in Table (27). Puberty and sexual maturity ages in both male and female Japanese quail. Influence of age and sex on the body weight (gm) of Japanese quail (n = 4). Analysis of variance (ANOVA) of body weight of Japanese quail in relation to age and sex Influence of age and sex on the carcass weight (gm) of Japanese quail (n = 4) Analysis of variance (ANOVA) of carcass weight of Japanese quail in relation to age and sex. Influence of age and sex on the shank length (cm) of Japanese quail (n = 4). Analysis of variance (ANOVA) of shank length of Japanese quail in relation to age and sex Influence of age and sex on the liver weight (gm) of Japanese quail (n = 4). Analysis of variance (ANOVA) of liver weight of Japanese quail in relation to age and sex Influence of age on the ovarian weight (gm) of Japanese vii
88 88 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 95 95 96 96 97 97 98 98 99
No. Table
39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51
quail females (n = 4). Analysis of variance (ANOVA) of ovaries weight of Japanese quail females in relation to age and sex Influence of age on the testicular weight (gm) of Japanese quail males (n = 4). Analysis of variance (ANOVA) of testicles weight of Japanese quail males in relation to age and sex. Influence of age and sex on the moisture % of Japanese quail meat (n = 4). Analysis of variance (ANOVA) of moisture % of Japanese quail meat in relation to age and sex Influence of age and sex on the protein % of Japanese quail meat (n = 4). Analysis of variance (ANOVA) of protein % of Japanese quail meat in relation to age and sex Influence of age and sex on the fat % of Japanese quail meat (n = 4). Analysis of variance (ANOVA) of fat % of Japanese quail meat in relation to age and sex Influence of age and sex on the ash % of Japanese quail meat (n = 4). Analysis of variance (ANOVA) of ash % of Japanese quail meat in relation to age and sex Correlation coefficient (r) between protein % and productivity of Japanese quail in relation to age and sex. Correlation coefficient (r) between fat% and productivity of Japanese quail in relation to age and sex
Page
99 100 100 101 101 102 102 103 103 104 104 105 106
/,672)),*85(6 LIST OF FIGURES
Figure
Page
1
Brooding of quail chicks by using gas brooders
107
2
The first feed for quail chicks was supplied in plastic trays
107
3a
Trough feeder is covered by a welded plastic grill or mesh in order to prevent feed wastage Adult quail birds are feeding from trough feeder covered by a welded plastic grill or mesh in order to prevent feed wastage. The first water of quail chicks was supplied in plastic trays filled with marbles or clean small gravel to prevent drowning Sexing of quail chicks by using sight sexing method. The male appears on the left side with dark yellowish orange colour of breast feather and smaller body size. While the female on the right side has larger body size and had a lighter shade of colour on the breast which is sprinkled with small black spots
108
6
Marking of quail by using numbered aluminum wing band
111
7
Battery cages used for housing of Japanese quail, consist of 5 111 tires vertically stacked 112 Water for quail chicks was supplied in plastic drinkers
No.
3b 4
5
8 9 10 11 12
13a 13b
Shell thickness was measured to nearest 0.01mm by using a micrometer Quail eggs were incubated in a special automatic incubator (quail-eggs type incubator). Hatching trays used for hatching of quail eggs at day 16 of incubation Incomplete mating behavior, in which the male quail grasps the back of female’s head and mounting attempts without vent positioning or ejaculation
108 109
110
112 113 113 114
Complete mating behavior, in which the male quail grasps the back of female’s head, mounting attempts, vent 114 positioning and ejaculation 115 Complete mating behavior in cage-housed birds ix
No.
Page
Figure
14
Head injuries were caused by aggressive pecking between 115 adult male quails
15a
Eyelid lesions were caused by aggressive pecking between 116 adult male quails
15b
Eye loss was caused by aggressive pecking between adult 116 males of Japanese quail 117 Hatching of quail eggs inside the hatcher
16a 16b
The newly hatched quail chicks inside the hatcher
117
17
Deep-litter system used for housing of Japanese quail
118
18
The male’s crowing sound (sexual call), an indicator of 118 puberty in Japanese quail
19
First appearance of clocal gland secretion (foam), an 119 indication of puberty in male Japanese quail
20
Pronounced secretion of clocal gland foams, an indicator of 119 sexual maturity in male Japanese quail 120 Feeding behavior in cage-housed birds
21 22 23 24 25
Sleeping in quail. The bird go on sleeping on the litter with closed eyes and both wings rest on the floor with the head 120 and beak rest on the floor Feather ruffling behavior in cage-housed birds, in which the 121 bird raised its feather without shaking or preening Feather preening behavior was performed by adult quail while standing. The bird perform preening to the wing 122 feathers by its beak 122 Wing and leg stretch behavior in floor housed birds
27
Dust bathing behavior was performed by quail. They squat down, rub themselves against the floor and flicking dust 123 from their backs 123 Pododermitis (bumble foot) in cage-housed Japanese quails
28a
Beak deformity (very long beak) in cage-housed birds
28b
The cage-housed bird on the left side with beak deformity. While the floor- housed bird on the right side has normal 124 beak
26
x
124
/,672)),*85(6 No.
Page
Figure
29
Feather loss on the head region of females, was associated 125 with male mounting attempts 125 Drinking behavior in cage-housed Japanese quail
30
Resting behavior in floor-housed Japanese quail
29
xi
126
CHAPTER1
INTRODUCTION In recent years, animal behavior has become an increasingly popular field of study and its relevance to many other subjects is widely appreciated, in the fields of agriculture and veterinary medical sciences, this appreciation has been relatively slow. However, with the growth of intensive husbandry systems and the desire for higher standards of animal welfare, the subject has become important to all agricultural animals including the poultry. The human population of Egypt continues to increase and animal proteins available are not sufficient to meet the requirements of human population, moreover, the price of meat is steadily increasing, so the raising of Japanese quail (Coturnix Coturnix Japonica) in Egypt is very important to help in solving the problem of a deficiency in animal protein. The Japanese or domestic quail is one of order Galliformes and the family Phasianidae, genus Coturnix. Japanese quail is considered a subspecies of the European common quail (Coturnix Coturnix) and was given the scientific designation (Coturnix Coturnix Japonica) (Wetmore, 1952). Advantages of Japanese quail raising in comparison with chickens are they consume less feed (Only14 gm of food daily if compared to 100gm of food by chicken), occupy less floor space per bird(only 200cm2 as compared with 1000cm2 in chickens),reach sexual maturity early (at 42 days as compared with 150 days in chicken ,produce greater number of eggs per unit of body weight, apparently more resistant to disease and develop 3.5 times as fast as domestic fowl (Marsh,1976). Egg production is excellent with up to 300 eggs produced per year per female. The quail egg deserved the name “vitamin bomb” .It contains in its 10 gr.(by comparison with the 60 gr. Hen egg),6 times more vitamin B1,12 times more vitamin B2 and important units of other B vitamins and also A,D,E vitamins. It also contains 7 times more iron, 5times more phosphorus and significant amount of Calcium, S, and Zn. Because of their rich contents of vitamins ,minerals and the 1
quality of the protein together with the natures of its lipid content, quail eggs are recommended as medicinal treatment by restoring the optimal metabolism for body cells : liver and kidney illness, anemia, diabetes, ulcers, asthma, tuberculosis (along with chemotherapy), sexual impotence and stress. They are also help regeneration of the body after surgery or after giving birth. Japanese quail is of growing economic importance, its small size and inexpensive rearing requirements, rapid maturation compared with other domesticated poultry and adaptability to a wide range of husbandry conditions have also made the species popular as laboratory animal for behavior, developmental and genetic research, it is increasingly being used as a model of that species for studies of applied animal ethology related to animal welfare (Gerken and Mills, 1993). Behavior is important factor in domestication and may be one of the reasons why few species have domesticated in recent times, rather than domesticating other species, man has intensified production of animals that already domesticated and utilized them for efficient and intensive production. Chickens provide the best example, intensive poultry production was initially favored by some behaviors such as replacing of incubation behavior and parent-offspring relationship by artificial incubation and brooding (Siegel 1976). For assessing the welfare of poultry by using behavior, there are three methods used .The first method is to look for unusual or inappropriate behavioral changes and show independently that they are indicative of reduced welfare, the second method is to allow the bird to choose its own environment and assume that it will choose the best interests of its welfare and the third method is to subject bird experimentally to stressful situation such as deprivation, frustration or fright, observe their behaviors and compare to that which occur under commercial condition (Duncan, 1981). Highly intensive methods of poultry husbandry have resulted in the expression of a considerable measure of public disquiet as to the humanity of the method used. The objections on highly intensive husbandry methods have two principal headings, firstly whether we unduly restrict movements by putting them in 2
CHAPTER1 cages or giving them little room for movement in other systems ,and secondly whether we deny them under some systems, restrict their natural instinctive urges to dust bath ,stretch their wings and scratch in litter. This study was carried out to investigate the following purposes: 1-Experiment I: Effect of housing system, age and period of the day on some behavioral patterns & performance and some blood parameters in Japanese quail at laying period. 2-Experiment II: Effect of sex ratio on the behavior and performance of Japanese quail. 3-Experiment III: Influence of age, body weight and carcass composition on onset of sexual maturity in Japanese quail.
3
• REVIEW OF LITERATURE On reviewing literatures concerning quail behavior and performance, it may be preferable to put it under the following separate headings to reduce the risk of omission and to facilitate the discussion thereafter.
Experiment: I "Effect of housing system, age and periods of the day on some behavioral patterns & performance and some blood parameters in Japanese Quail during laying period" The housing systems and the physical environment have a marked effect on the physiology, behavior and the nature of social interactions among the poultry. An appropriate housing should meet the basic essential needs of the poultry based on the principles of poultry care.
I.1.Quail behaviors Behavior is really the way in which animal acts, this term covers such a wide range of activities that are useful to recognize two categories of behavior. Locomotion, feeding and preening are all examples of maintenance activities, the other class of behavior is concerned with conveying information to other birds of same species, and this kind of behavior can be called displays. The literature concerning the different classes of behavior could be summarized as following:
I.1.1 Ingestive behavior Effect of housing system on ingestive behavior: Meijsser and Hughes (1989) found that in ISA Brown layers, the feeding was greater in battery cages-housed hens than perchery, deep litter or straw yard-housed hens. Moreover, the frequency of feeding was found to be sharply decreased over time in all systems but remained highest in cages throughout the day. However, drinking behavior relatively frequent in cages than other systems of housing.
4
CHAPTER 2 Meneeh (1991) revealed that cage-reared quail chicks showed a significant differences (P< 0.05) in time spent feeding than those reared in floor pens. The cage-managed birds spent 22% more time in feeding than floor managed birds. Chopra and Singh (1992) found that hatching season and housing system had no significant effect on feed consumption and mortality. Fouzder et al. (1999) found that there were inconsistent tendencies in caged birds which showed superiority in feed consumption and feed utilization. Sosnowka-Czajka and Muchacka (2005) found that chickens cages batteries consumed feed more frequently and spent more time drinking than chickens from the litter system. Albentosa et al. (2007) studied the effect of cage height and stocking density on the behavior of laying hens in furnished cages and they found that hens housed at 870cm2 / bird had shorter feeding bouts than hens at 609 and 762cm2 / birds, yawing was more common in the cages with greater cage height. They suggested that changes in horizontal and vertical space over the ranges had little effect on behavior other than feeding behavior.
Effect of age on ingestive behavior: Wilson et al (1978) found that the weekly feed consumption increased through the five weeks of age in bob white quail. Darden and marks (1988) found that quail’s water consumption was greater in those fed high protein diet. Moreover, the feed consumption was found to be increased during the first two weeks of age and decreases thereafter. Newberry et al. (1988) found that feeding and drinking activities were significantly declined as the age increased. However, neither feeding nor drinking behaviors were influenced by light level or period of day. Na-lamping and Craig (1990) found that 60 weeks cage-reared hens had a higher drinking activity than those of 33 weeks of age. 5
Mahrous (1993) observed that age of birds have highly significant effect on feeding absolute and relative frequencies and relative drinking frequency.
Effect of periods of day on ingestive behaviour: Woodard and Wilson (1970) stated that normal eating patterns in the quail are characterized by closely spaced food and water intake in morning and late afternoon and widely spaced, shorter period of ingestion in early afternoon, sharp increase in food ingestion occur shortly after the onset of morning light and during period of approximately 3 hr prior to darkness. However, females show marked decrease in food and water intake during last 3 hrs prior to ovipostion and there is practically no ingestive behavior during the final hour proceeding oviposition. Savory (1979) noticed that the reproductive status of bird was the most important factor causing variation in diurnal feeding patterns and he found that laying birds fed more at the end of the photoperiod while the non-layers at the beginning. Ouart and Adams (1982b) reported that birds spent more time feeding in early afternoon period (1700 – 1900hr) than in early morning period (700 to 900hr). Moreover, Nicol (1987) found that period of day had a significant effect on both time spent in feeding and feeding counts, but it had no effect on both drinking counts and time. Meneeh (1991) reported that feeding was not significantly affected by the period of day. However, birds spent more time feeding in early morning (600 – 800hr) than during afternoon (1400-1600). Moreover, the early morning period had the highest percentage of the drinking time. Mahrous (1993) found that there was daily periods variations among behavioral traits where the feeding relative frequency was at the peak during late afternoon and the lowest during early afternoon with highly significant difference. Mills et al. (1997) mentioned that although Japanese quails eat and drink throughout the day, feeding and drinking behaviors are closely related to the 6
CHAPTER 2 photoperiod and occur most frequently at the beginning and the end of the day and control of food intake appears to depend more on the emptying and filling of gastrointestinal tract than on circulating levels of nutrients. Pizzolante et al. (2006) found that the period of day influenced (p< 0.01) feed intake per hour. Feed intake was lower during the night (7 pm to 7 am), and highest from 5 pm to 7 pm, with the period of 7 am to 5 pm presenting intermediate values in Japanese quail.
I.1.2 Movement activities The locomotion activity of quail is represented by standing, walking, running and sometimes by flying; much of these kinetic activity is invested in pecking for food or for exercise activities.
Effect of housing system on movement activities: Koelkbeck et al. (1987) found that cage –reared hens stood more and moved less than floor reared hens. They also added that hens given more space area spent less time in standing. Meijsser and Hughes (1989) found that the total number of steps and the rate of walking (numbers of steps / unit time) were greater in deep-litter and straw yard than cage and perchery housed ISA Brown laying hens. In cages this locomotor activity occurred throughout and in over 50% of hens was accompanied by rapid head movements. However, the overall amount of time spent standing did not differ between systems. Anderson et al. (1989) found that pullets housed four birds per cage spent significantly fewer periods of standing and crouching but more periods of preening, feeding and performing more comfort activities than those housed six birds per cage. Meneeh (1991) observed that there was a non-significant effect of housing system on movement in Japanese quail. However, floor-managed birds move more than the cage-reared birds. 7
Schmid and Wechsler (1997) studied the behavior of Japanese quail kept in semi-natural aviaries and showed that quails spent 35% of observation time on passive behavior, 24% on locomotor behavior, 8% on exploratory / foraging behavior, 14% on comfort behavior and 4% ingestive behavior, aggressive behavior was rare in groups without cocks while in heterosexual groups, 67% of the aggressive interactions were observed between cocks. Guemene et al. (2006) found that ducks raised in cages spent more time standing than ducks raised in floor pens.
Effect of age on movement activities: Dawson and Seigel (1967) defined running as swift movement about the pen and showed that running was decreased with time and probably replaced by other escape responses. Moreover, there were no significant differences observed between sexes and lines in running behavior. they also stated that the locomotion activity of Japanese quail is represented by walking, running or by frolicking and sometimes by flying. They also added that resting was mostly prevalent during the first few days of life after which it declined rapidly. Newberry et al. (1988) observed that standing, walking and general activity of broiler chickens were declined significantly as the age of birds increased. Na-Lamping and Craig (1990) found that in four-hen cages, hens of 33 weeks age showed more standing and moving activities than those of 60 weeks of age. In contrast, in six-birds cages standing were increased with age. Lee and Craig (1990) showed that a significant difference in morning activities of egg strain pullets between 4,5,6,7 and 16 weeks of age was observed. However, Standing was not differed in 5, 6 and 7 weeks of age but only differed in 4 and 16 weeks.
8
CHAPTER 2 Mahrous (1993) found that standing percentage was decreased with age while walking was gradually increased with advanced age in Japanese quail. Webster and Hurnik (1990) found that feeding and standing were positively associated with feed consumption. Webster and Hurnik (1991) studied the relationship between the behavior and production of laying hens, they found that standing was positively correlated with hen- housed egg production and egg mass. Moreover, walking and head down behaviors were positively associated with feather condition and negatively related to body weight.
Effect of periods of day on movement activities: Ouart and Adams (1982a) reported that movement activities of single comb White Leghorn layers were higher at early morning than late morning period. Meyer et al. (1988) found that locomotor activity of Japanese quail was higher in the brighter than in darker photophase. Newberry et al. (1988) observed that both standing and total activity of broiler chickens birds were significantly influenced by the period of day while walking was not affected. Lee and Craig (1990) showed that egg strain pullets displayed more standing and moving activities during the early morning than late morning. Meneeh (1991) found that there was a significant difference in movements between periods of day; most of movement of Japanese quail was during the late morning and afternoon. Mahrous (1993) found that the percentages of birds engaged in standing showed highest values at early afternoon (2:00-4:00), while, it was lowered during late afternoon (6:00-8:00).moreover, the average walking percent of Japanese quail was higher during early morning and lowered during late afternoon period.
9
1.1.3. Resting behavior: Crouching in quails are representing resting behavior, it occur in a squatting position and crouching phases are interspersed with true sleep. Effect of housing system on resting behavior: Koelkebeck et al. (1987) found that cage-reared hens crouches longer periods than the floor-reared birds. No significant difference was found in both crouching and standing behaviors between groups of 3, 4 and 5 bird’s population. Preston (1987) found that cage housed layers spent more time sitting when fed by restricted access than those fed by ad libitum means. Meijsser and Hughes (1989) stated that duration of sitting did not differ between different housing systems. However, the number of sitting bouts was higher and of short duration in cage-reared birds than those reared in straw-yard in which the sitting bouts were fewer and long duration. Sitting in cages was interrupted by drinking and creeping under other hens to sit themselves. Meneeh (1991) found that cage-housed Japanese quail spent less time in crouching than floor-reared ones. On other hand, Webster and Hurnik (1991) found that there was a negative correlation between sitting and resting behavior with egg production. Sosnowka-Czajka and Muchacka (2005) found that chickens from the litter system spent much more time resting, whereas caged chickens showed greater physical activity. Guemene et al. (2006) found that ducks raised in cages (individual or collective) spent more time standing (less lying), less time in active i.e. expressing passive behavior patterns, than ducks raised in floor pens.
10
CHAPTER 2
Effect of age on resting behavior: Lee and Craig (1990) found a significant difference in crouching between 4th, 5th, 6th and 6th weeks of age in the egg-strain pullets. However, no difference for inactivity was seen between 4th, 5th, 6th and 7th weeks of age. Mahrous (1993) reported that both crouching percentage and frequency in Japanese quail decreased with age. The percentage of birds displayed crouching reaching its maximum during the 4th month and decreased progressively thereafter.
Effect of periods of day resting behavior: Lee and Craig (1981a) found that pullets spend more time in resting during afternoon than early morning. However, there were no consistent results to the effect of age and period on resting time. Lee and Craig (1990) found that the egg-strain pullets spent more time crouching and more inactivity periods in late morning than early morning. Meneeh (1991) observed that crouching was higher in early morning than early and late afternoon periods in Japanese quail. Mahrous (1993) observed that the relative frequency of crouching and the percentage of birds displayed crouching behavior were lower during early morning period and reach its highest value during early afternoon period.
I 1.4 Comfort Behaviors Comfort behavior is a term given to a group of behavioral patterns including preening, feather ruffling, scratching, head shaking, leg and wing stretching, dustbathing. These activities all have something to do with body care. The function of preening is to brush or to remove surface debris and arrangement of the feathers. Head is preened by scratching with foot or rubbing it against other parts of the body. Moreover, arrangement of bird's feather is performed by streaking action with a closed bill. Wing and leg stretching may be concerned with improving muscle tone or muscle function or increasing circulation to limbs. Dust bathing behavior occur in 11
discrete bouts in Catornix Japonica, each of which is composed of the following sequence of component behavior patterns, raking movement with the bill, scratching or scraping movements with legs, tossing the dust into the air with wings and undulating the body under the dust shower, rubbing the head and body in the dust then followed by vigorous feather ruffling and shaking. Dust – bathing has a range of functional benefits such as feather maintenance, regulation of the lipid content of the plumage and removal of ectoparasites.
Effect of housing system on comfort behavior: Koelkebeck et al. (1987) found that incidence of preening activity in caged hens was not influenced by density allotments and they added that cage reared hens preened greater than the floor-reared ones and hens that given more space area spent less time in standing. Dawkins (1998) demonstrated that hens in laying cages do no have such freedom .Furthermore; cages prevent or restrict pre-laying behavior, comfort behavior, feeding and forging and dust-bathing. Inability to perform normal prelaying behavior is generally regarded as one of most important problems for the welfare of hens in cages. Meijsser and Hughes (1989) observed that the cage housed ISA brown layers spent longer time in comfort behaviors (mostly preening) than other housing system. Moreover, time spent in comfort behaviors declined as oviposition approached. Meneeh (1991) stated that the cage housed birds displayed more comfort activities, more preening and more head shaking than floor – reared birds. However, there were no significant differences due to periods of day on these behavioral activities. Guemene et al. (2006) found that ducks raised in cages not achieve full wing stretch or express a full range of social behaviors; also they have more difficulty in thermoregulation as indicated by the fact that they had higher frequencies of both panting and watering than ducks raised in floor pens. 12
CHAPTER 2 Colson et al. (2007) found that new housing systems used for commercial egg production like furnished cages and laying aviaries improve hen’s welfare in term of dust-bathing behavior compared with conventional cages.
Effect of age on comfort behaviors: Simons (1964) defined grooming as those actions directly related to body surface maintenance. Moreover, Dawson and Seigel (1967) defined preening as grooming of the feathers with beak, while stretching is the extension of limbs and or body. They observed that preening increased in a linear manner with age as the amount of feather coverage increased. However, stretching was found to be increased rapidly during the first weeks (between 4 and 7 weeks) then declined to about half of its peak level at 10 weeks. Thabit (1987) found that preening and head scratching were at their highest level at the first week and decreased gradually in a linear manner from first to six week of age. Wing and leg stretching was fluctuated between the first and six week at which it reached its highest level. Newberry et al. (1988) observed that walking, standing and general activity were declined significantly as the age of broiler chickens increased. Na-lamping and Craig (1990) showed that hens of 33 weeks age displayed more feather pecking activities, but less preening than those at 60 weeks of age. They added that preening was lowest at first 3 days after cage – housing while comfort activities and feather pecking frequencies remained relatively constant during the initial 3-day period. Webster and Hurnik (1991) found that walking behavior was associated with lower body weight and weight gain, while the sitting coincided with higher body weight and they also found that there was a negative correlation between sitting and resting behavior with egg production. Moreover, the increased resting, immobility and sitting levels resulted in higher body weight and poor plumage condition. 13
Mahrous (1993) showed that most of comfort activities gradually decreased with age, where the highest preening relative frequency, ruffling relative frequency and panting frequency were during 3rd month and the lowest one during 8th month.
Effect of periods of day on comfort behavior: Lee and Craig (1981b) reported that grooming activities did not differ between strains and laying hens spent more time in grooming in the early morning (6:30 to 8:30 hr) than in early afternoon (13:00 to 14: 00), in contrast, pullets spent more time grooming in the afternoon than in the early morning Nicol (1987) Found that the time of day had no significant effect on wing-leg stretch, wing flap, feather raise, head scratching and preening. The only comfort behaviors that affected by the time of day were the body and head shaking. Lee and Craig (1990) observed that birds exhibited less preening and less total inactivity in early morning than that in late morning. As the pullets grew older the percentage of time spent inactive was found to be increased. Kuo et al. (1991) found that preening activity was higher in late morning than that in the early morning period in white leghorn pullets. Meneeh (1991) found that periods of day had a non-significant effect on the comfort activities displayed by Japanese quail; Mahrous (1993) found that ruffling and wing / leg stretch behavior relative frequency were reached to their highest level during late morning while shaking and panting frequency highest during early afternoon and lowest frequency was during early morning in Japanese quail.
I.2. Effect of housing system on performance of Japanese quail: Domestic poultry kept in intensive housing system are affected by the surrounding environment which when it is inconvenient reflected in an adverse effect on their production and reproduction. The most important method by which bird welfare can be measured is to leave the animal under different environmental components and observe its behavior, production and reproduction. Performance of Japanese quail includes egg production, egg quality traits, fertility and hatchability. 14
CHAPTER 2
I.2.1 Egg production performance Effect of housing system on egg production of Japanese quail: Motll et al. (1972) studied the differences between different types of housing in egg production; they showed that the highest egg production obtained in cages than slatted floor and sandy ground type of housing. Oluyemi et al. (1977) found that the percentage egg production was highest for hens in cages (67.5%) and least for those housed in the one open sided, deep litter house (51.7%). The effects of housing systems on other production traits appeared to be practically negligible, although performance in the cages tended to be best. Davami et al. (1987) reported that larger group size with less floor space area in caged birds resulted in significantly lower body weight, lower egg production and poor feed efficiency. Appleby et al. (1988) found that hen-housed egg production was significantly lower in deep-litter system than in cages. Nagarajan et al. (1991) found that there was significant improvement in hen day egg production and food conversion with increase in cage space per layer in Japanese quail. Mostert et al. (1995) concluded that the battery system was better than floor house and free-range system, yielding a significantly higher hen-day egg production than the free-range system, a significantly higher egg mass than the floor house system. Barnett and Hemsworth (2003) mentioned that birds in cage system with reduced mortalities and increased egg production than non-cage system. Kundu et al. (2003) found that cage-reared Japanese quail layed eggs and reached the age at 50 percent egg production earlier than the deep litter – reared
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quails; also the former had higher (p
