Poultry Department, Faculty of Agriculture, Zagazig University, Zagazig 44519, Egypt.
Department of DETO, Section of Veterinary Science and Animal Production, University of Bari Aldo Moro, Valenzano 70010, Bari, Italy.
Poult Sci. 2019 Apr 1;98(4):1684-1691. doi: 10.3382/ps/pey543.
The effect of sex and age of Japanese quails (Coturnix japonica) on their performance, blood biochemical parameters, carcass traits, and meat quality was evaluated in this experiment. A total of 450, 3-wk-old Japanese quails (225 males and 225 females) were equally divided into six groups (75 birds each) in a 2 × 3 factorial design, including two sex (male and female) and three slaughter ages (5, 6, and 7 wk of age). Each group was subdivided into five replicates each of 15 birds. The body weight (BW) and feed intake (FI) values were significantly higher in female quails than in males, and these values showed an increasing trend with age. Female quails recorded the higher percentages of liver and giblets, and lower heart percentage than males. Sex × age interaction had a significant impact on carcass parameters except for breast and thigh yield. No significant sex-based differences were detected for quail meat chemical composition except for meat fat content. Moisture and ash content of meat were gradually deceased with age. Meat from female showed higher values for tenderness, intramuscular fat percentage (IMF), and meat lightness, but showed lower values of water holding capacity (WHC) and meat redness. Meat juiciness and tenderness decreased, while WHC, IMF, and meat redness increased with age. Mean values of red blood cells (RBC), packed cell volume (PCV), hemoglobin (Hb), and white blood cells (WBC) were higher (P < 0.05) in male quails than female ones. Plasma total protein, cholesterol, triglycerides, calcium, phosphorus, and uric acid were decreased in males comparable to females. The progress in quail age (5 to 7 wk) leads to significant increase in values of RBC, PCV, and Hb. Plasma cholesterol, total protein, triglycerides, and hemoglobin were linearly deceased with age. It could be concluded that Japanese quails (both males and females) should be slaughtered at 5 or 6 wk of age to obtain higher carcass yields and the best meat quality and composition. Furthermore, male quails recorded the highest values of meat quality and composition when compared to females.
本实验评估了日本鹌鹑（Coturnix japonica）的性别和年龄对其性能、血液生化参数、屠体特征和肉质的影响。在这项实验中，将 450 只 3 周龄的日本鹌鹑（225 只雄性和 225 只雌性）平均分为 6 组（每组 75 只），采用 2×3 析因设计，包括 2 种性别（雄性和雌性）和 3 个屠宰年龄（5、6 和 7 周龄）。每组分为 5 个重复，每个重复 15 只鸟。与雄性相比，雌性的体重（BW）和采食量（FI）值显著更高，且随年龄增长呈上升趋势。与雄性相比，雌性的肝脏和内脏比例更高，心脏比例更低。除了胸肌和大腿肉产量外，性别×年龄互作对屠体参数有显著影响。除了肉脂肪含量外，鹌鹑肉的化学成分在性别上没有显著差异。随着年龄的增长，肉的水分和灰分含量逐渐降低。雌性的肉嫩度、肌内脂肪百分比（IMF）和肉亮度较高，但持水能力（WHC）和肉红色度较低。随着年龄的增长，肉的多汁性和嫩度降低，而 WHC、IMF 和肉红色度增加。与雌性相比，雄性的红细胞（RBC）、红细胞压积（PCV）、血红蛋白（Hb）和白细胞（WBC）平均值较高（P<0.05）。与雌性相比，雄性的血浆总蛋白、胆固醇、甘油三酯、钙、磷和尿酸较低。随着鹌鹑年龄（5 至 7 周）的增长，RBC、PCV 和 Hb 的值显著增加。血浆胆固醇、总蛋白、甘油三酯和血红蛋白随年龄呈线性下降。因此，为了获得更高的屠体产量和最佳的肉质和组成，日本鹌鹑（雄性和雌性）应在 5 或 6 周龄时屠宰。此外，与雌性相比，雄性的肉质和组成值最高。
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