Morphological and morphometric trait differentiation of local quail populations in some agro-ecological zones of Ghana.

Abstract

In this study, the morphological and morphometric traits of the local quail population in the Coastal Savanna, Semi-Deciduous Forest and Transitional Agro ecological Zones (AEZs) of Ghana were investigated. In this mixed-methods study, a descriptive cross-sectional survey was employed. The survey included ninety (90) local quail farmers with thirty (30) keepers from each AEZs was selected to investigate their keeping aims, characteristics, trait preferences, and production systems. A questionnaire, observation, and direct measurement were employed to obtain data. Morphometric traits of Body Weight, Body length, Wing length, Shank length and Body girth (BW, BL, WL, SL, and BG) were measured. A sample size of 540 quails was selected with 180 from each AEZ (60males and 120females). The data was then analysed using Minitab-22 software. The study found that sex and AEZ had no significant (p<0.05) influence on the morphometric parameters examined except BW. Also, female quails were found to be significantly (p>0.05) heavier than males in all three AEZ. Again, the study found that survivability was the most preferred trait by the local quail farmers, followed by high egg laying capacity, early maturity, and resistance to most avian diseases among female quails. The findings of the canonical discriminant analysis indicated that the local quail populations in the Semi-deciduous Forest were closer to those in the Transitional zone than to those in the Coastal Savannah AEZ. A further examination of the qualitative characteristics uncovered two shank colors (yellow and pink) and four plumage colors (White, Black, Brown, and Red). All the quails within the three AEZ had pink skin color.