International Research Journal of Biological Sciences ___________________________________ ISSN 2278-3202Vol. 4(7), 29-33, July (2015) Int. Res. J. Biological Sci. International Science Congress Association 29 Effect of Season on Mortality of Japanese Quail (Coturnix Coturnix Japonica) in Different Age Groups Nanda S., Mallik B. K., Panda P. K., Nayak I., Samal S. K. and Das M. Central Poultry Development Organization (Eastern Region), Bhubaneswar-751012, Odisha, INDIA Available online at: www.isca.in, www.isca.me Received 16th May 2015, revised 25th June 2015, accepted 5th July 2015 Abstract Two years data on mortality of Japanese quail (Coturnixcoturnix japonica) of Central Poultry Development Organization (Eastern Region), Bhubaneswar (from October, 2012 to July, 2014) in three different seasons of summer, monsoon and winter were analyzed. The average temperature ranges between 100 C in winter to 450 C in summer. The average relative humidity ranges from 40% to 95%. Average annual rainfall is 154cm. The total chick (0-3 week) mortality was 3.65 % with a weekly value of 7.25 % in 1st week, 2.06 % in 2nd week and 0.93 % in 3rd week. So far as seasons were concerned, 1st, 2nd and 3rd weeks mortality were 8.99 %, 3.12 % and 1.75 % in monsoon; 7.63 %, 2.52 % and 0.87 % in winter and 6.69 %, 1.62 % and 0.84 % in summer respectively. The mortality as recorded on total chicks rearing was significantly lowest (P0.01) in summer followed by winter and monsoon. The season’s pooled mortality in grower (4-5 week) and adult (above 5 week) were 0.70 % and 0.53 % respectively. The overall Japanese quail death was significantly (P&#x-1.0;ȃ0.01) higher in monsoon followed by winter and summer. Keywords: Japanese quail, mortality, season and mean.Introduction Quail farming is becoming popular among the poultry farmers now-a-days. It has an edge over other poultry species farming due to its small size, less floor space requirement, short incubation period, high growth rate, early maturity, low generation gap, high rate of egg production, low feed intake, low medication and vaccination requirement. The Japanese quail belongs to the order Galliformes, family Phasinidae, genus Coturnix, speciescoturnix and sub-species japonica. Its scientific name is Coturnixcoturnix japonica1-3. The Japanese quail is recently been farmed in large number throughout the world. Farms have been established in countries like Japan, India, China, Italy, Russia and the United States. It has been used mostly in research purposes in state, federal, university and private laboratories. Fields of research in which Japanese quail is highly used these days include nutrition, embryology, pathology, genetics, oncology, behavior and toxicity of pesticides. In near future Japanese quails play an integralpart in forever evolving poultry industry of India as they are gaining popularity in commercial sector very fast. They can be a very good and economic source of diet rich in animal protein and now being bred for meat and eggs. Japanese quail is more resistant to diseases than chicken. But the brooding period is very critical for them. The mortality is highest in the first week that drastically reduces in the subsequent age groups. Mortality also varies in different seasons i.e. the seasonal variation has a greater impact on the mortality of Japanese quail chicks. The climate in and around Bhubaneswar reveals that it is a tropical climate specially a hot and humid climate. The average temperature ranges between 10C in winter to 45C in summer. The average relative humidity ranges from 40% to 95%. Average annual rainfall is 154cm. Therefore a study was conducted at the Central Poultry Development Organization (Eastern Region), CPDO (ER) Bhubaneswar to find out the seasonal variation and effect of age on mortality of Japanese quail. Material and Methods Data on mortality of Japanese quail (Coturnixcoturnix japonica) of CPDO (ER), Bhubaneswar from October, 2012 to July, 2014 was utilized under this study. The collected age specific data of chick (0-3 week), grower (4-5 week) and adult (above 5 week) was divided into 3 Indian seasons of Summer that continues from March to June, Monsoon that continues from July to October and Winter that continues from November to February. All the chicks were obtained from foundation stocks of CPDO (ER). Deep litter system was maintained in the quail house with the minimum height of the litter material being 5 cm. The top layer of litter was covered with a gunny sheet to avoid slippery floor and absorb unwanted spilled water during drinking. The temperature maintained during first week of brooding period was 95° F that was gradually reduced to 70° F by end of 3rdweek of age. The floor space assigned as 75 sq. cm. /bird from 0-3 weeks of age and 150-175 sq. cm/bird from 4-5 weeks age. Feeding and watering space was provided @ 2 and 1 linear cm respectively up to 3 weeks and it was increased 50% more from Research Journal of Biological Sciences ___________________________________________________________ ISSN 2278-3202 Vol. 4(7), 29-33, July (2015) Int. Res. J. Biological Sci. International Science Congress Association 30 4-5 weeks. Other standard management practices were followed during the entire testing period. The dead birds from each and every age group were collected separately and necropsy examination was performed on the dead birds on day to day basis. The data was collected on different parameters and its statistical analysis was conducted as per procedure10. Results and Discussion Chick mortality Vs three Indian seasons: In Japanese quail chick stage ranged from day old to 3rd week, in comparison to fowl which is ranged from 0-8 week of age. Out of 3 weeks, first week is very crucial for quail due to its size and nature of feather development in early stage. The total no. of chicks housed, number of died and percentage of mortality calculated during brooding period is presented in table-1. Total mortality percentage in 1st week age group in 3 different seasons i.e. monsoon, winter and summer were 8.99%, 7.63% and 6.69% respectively. The values during 2nd week were 3.12%, 2.52% and 1.62% respectively. Similarly, the mean values in 3rd week were estimated as 1.75%, 0.87% and 0.84% respectively (table-1). The seasons pooled mean values of mortality were recorded as 7.25 %, 2.06 % and 0.93 % in 1st, 2nd and 3rd week of age groups respectively. The total chick mortality was significantly (P�0.01) higher (4.75 %) in monsoon followed by 4.17 % in winter and 3.15 % in summer. The season’s pooled mean value of mortality of total chick was recorded as 3.65%. It shows significantly higher (P�0.01) mortality in the 1st week and then subsequently decreases drastically as age advances. The season wise rearing of quail chicks shows significantly (P0.01) lower death rate in summer followed by winter and monsoon. This finding collaborates with the studies done by some other researchers11,12. Grower and adult mortality Vs three Indian seasons: The total number of 4th and 5th week Japanese quails housed in all the 3 different seasons along with their respective number of mortality and its percentage for the whole period of observation is presented in table-2. Total mortality in 4th week age group in 3 different seasons i.e. monsoon, winter and summer were 0.13 %, 0.70 % and 0.60 % respectively and that during 5th and above age group is 0.95 %, 0.53 % and 0.48 % respectively. The season’s pooled mean values of mortality of total chick were recorded as 1.15%, 0.63% and 0.54% in monsoon, winter and summer respectively. The grower and adult quail mortality percentage were recorded significantly lower value (p0.01) in summer followed by winter and monsoon. This mortality trend in different seasons is in contradiction to previous findings11,12. The comparison of mortality in different age groups as per the three different seasons is given in figure-1. Figure-1 1st week Japanese quails underbrooderTable-1 Mortality statement of Japanese quail chicks (0 to 3 weeks) of age Season Year Chick Total chicks 1 st week 2 nd week 3 rd week No of bird housed No of died % of mortality No of bird housed No of died % of mortality No of bird housed No of died % of mortality No of bird housed No of died % of mortality Monsoon 2012-13 5845 429 7.34 6225 214 3.44 6177 70 1.13 18247 713 3.91 2013-14 10794 1067 9.89 9098 264 2.90 9006 196 2.18 28898 1527 5.28 Monsoon total 16639 1496 8.99 15323 478 3.12 15183 266 1.75 47145 2240 4.75 Winter 2012-13 27991 758 2.71 20493 404 1.97 20387 216 1.06 68871 1378 2.00 2013-14 51228 5288 10.32 40420 1128 2.79 31983 238 0.74 123631 6654 5.38 Winter total 79219 6046 7.63 60913 1532 2.52 52370 454 0.87 192502 8032 4.17 Summer 2012-13 38326 989 2.58 36611 363 0.99 36838 231 0.63 111775 1583 1.42 2013-14 66166 6004 9.07 62801 1252 1.99 57840 561 0.97 186807 7817 4.18 Summer total 104492 6993 6.69 99412 1615 1.62 94678 792 0.84 298582 9400 3.15 Season pooled 200350 14535 7.25 175648 3625 2.06 162231 1512 0.93 538229 19672 3.65 Research Journal of Biological Sciences ___________________________________________________________ ISSN 2278-3202 Vol. 4(7), 29-33, July (2015) Int. Res. J. Biological Sci. International Science Congress Association 31 Table-2 Mortality statement of Japanese quail growers (4th week) and adult (5th week and above) Season Year Grower Adult Total of grower and adult 4 th week 5 th week and above No of bird housed No of died % of mortality No of bird housed No of died % of mortality No of bird housed No of died % of mortality Monsoon 2012-13 2480 63 2.54 2966 63 2.12 5446 126 2.31 2013-14 8851 87 0.98 7058 32 0.45 15909 119 0.75 Monsoon total 11331 150 0.13 10024 95 0.95 21355 245 1.15 Winter 2012-13 4532 52 1.15 4037 16 0.40 8569 68 0.79 2013-14 11921 63 0.53 8160 49 0.60 20081 112 0.56 Winter total 16453 115 0.70 12197 65 0.53 28650 180 0.63 Summer 2012-13 30797 128 0.42 34552 132 0.38 65349 260 0.40 2013-14 41938 308 0.73 39455 220 0.56 81393 528 0.65 Summer total 72735 436 0.60 74007 352 0.48 146742 788 0.54 Season pooled 100519 701 0.70 96228 512 0.53 196747 1213 0.62 Post mortem findings: In 1st week chicks: In chicks, important gross lesions involved unabsorbed yolk sac suggesting bacterial invasion (figure-3). Another prominent feature involved pneumonic lungs with frothy fluid coming out of cut edges (figure-4). Lungs were congested in some of the cases. Trachea had frothy exudates. Liver showed patchy haemorrhages (figure-5). Haemorrhagic GI tract was a prominent feature (figure-6). Bursa of Fabricius was hemorrhagic and also spleen showed patchy hemorrhages. From the above observations, it is suggested that death may be due to either lack of sudden acclimatization of newly hatched small chicks to environment or lack of sensitiveness of chicks to feed and water. In 2nd week chick: There was a sudden drop in mortality. Important pathological lesions involved enteritis and hepatitis. In some cases there were signs of chilling in lungs and trachea. Hemorrhages in the spleen, liver and kidney were also prominent. Some quail chicks died due to drowning in the water pot that may be due to in-coordination between chick size and water space. Figure-2 st week dead chicks Figure-3 Unabsorbed yolk sac Figure-4 Frothy fluid coming out of the lungs Research Journal of Biological Sciences ___________________________________________________________ ISSN 2278-3202 Vol. 4(7), 29-33, July (2015) Int. Res. J. Biological Sci. International Science Congress Association 32 Figure-5 A-Congested lungs C-Proventriculus, D-Hemorrhagic liver In 3rd week chicks: Japanese quail chicks had signs of ulcerative enteritis. Lungs and liver were congested. Kidney had hemorrhagic spots. Outer wall of proventriculus had hemorrhagic spots. Gizzard had litter material that may be due to sudden removal of papers/gunny sheets from top of the litter, because they may confuse with feed and litter materials due to colour blindness character of quail chicks. During last part of nd week and beginning of 3rd week, some chicks observed in-coordination movement, lameness and torticolis which may be due to high growth of chicks and deficiency of calcium, phosphorous and B vitamins. Figure-6 Haemorrhagic GI tract In 4th week and 5th week quail growers: Death rate was minimal in 4th and 5th week; however, some sporadic death reveals PM signs of enteritis and hepatitis. In some occasional cases, multi-focal small pale areas were found on liver and spleen. Lungs were congested. Hemorrhagic intestine and kidney were observed. Conclusion The results of this study revealed that, mortality in Japanese quails was significantly highest in the 1st week of their life irrespective of seasons which subsequently decreases as age advances. It may be due to the critical period of brooding during which the hypothalamic development and thermoregulation is not properly organized. So far as seasons are concerned, the results showed that Japanese quail is very sensitive to environment. The mortality is lowest in summer followed by winter and monsoon. It may be due to the fact that mortality increases due to erratic change in environmental temperature during monsoon which causes pilling up of the Japanese quail chicks at the corner of the chick guards during brooding stage. References1.Thear K., Keeping quail (a guide to domestic and commercial management), third edition, published by Broad Leys Publishing Company London E9 5EN. Veterinary Clinical Pathology, Williams and Wilkins, Baltimore, (1998)2.Mizutani M., The Japanese quail, Laboratory Animal Reasearch Station, Nippon Institute for Biological Science, Kobuchizawa, Yamanashi, Japan, 408-0041 (2003) 3.Puspamitra S., Mohanty P.K. and Mallik B.K., Haematological Analyses of Japanese Quail Coturnixcoturnix japonica) at different stages of growth, Int. Res. J. 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