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Raising a New Hybrid: Pheasant X Japanese Quail
298
RESEARCH NOTES
lower hatchability among heavier eggs within a trial but limits were not consistent from trial to trial. From the results of this trial it would appear that setting Coturnix eggs weighing less than 7.1 grams should be avoided. ACKNOWLEDGMENT Mrs. Barbara L. Reed weighed and incubated the eggs in the first two trials. REFERENCES Hinshaw, W. R., B. R. Burmester, A. A. Creamer, C. W. Hess, J. R. Howes, W. M. Insko, Jr. and W. O. Wilson, 1969. Coturnix (Coturnix coturnix japonica) Standards and guidelines for the breeding, care, and management of laboratory animals. National Academy of Sciences, Publication 1703. Insko, W. M., Jr., D. W. MacLaury and E. A. Baute, 1943. Weight of turkey eggs in relation to hatchability. Kentucky Agric. Exp. Sta. Bui. 449. Landauer, W., 19S1. The hatchability of chicken eggs as influenced by environment and heredity. Storrs (Connecticut) Agr. Exp. Sta. Bui. 262 (Revised). Romanoff, A. L., 1938. Study of artificial incuba-
of egg weight on hatchability (young breeders)
TABLE 2.—Effect
Weight classes grams
Number eggs
Fertile percent
Number Hatch, percent strong chicks Fertile Total
6 . 1 - 6.5 6 . 6 - 7.0 7 . 1 - 7.5 7 . 6 - 8.0 8 . 1 - 8.5 8 . 6 - 9.0 9 . 1 - 9.5 9.6-10.0 10.1-10.5 10.6-11.0 11.1-11.5 11.6-12.0
13 22 90 125 276 687 1388 1233 869 333 110 37
30.76 50.00 84.44 84.00 85.87 92.58 92.29 91.48 92.41 93.99 89.09 81.08
0 3 49 81 166 495 1053 912 662 261 77 17
0 27.27 64.47 77.14 70.04 77.83 82.20 80.85 82.44 83.39 78.57 56.67
0 13.64 54.44 64.80 60.14 72.05 75.86 73.97 76.18 78.38 70.00 45.95
Total
5183
91.11
3776
79.97
72.85
tion of game birds. III. Effect of air movement on the incubation of pheasant and quail eggs. IV. Interrelation of temperature, humidity, and air movement in the incubation of pheasant and quail eggs. Cornell University Agr. Exp. Sta. Bui. 687. Wilson, W. O., U. K. Abbott and H. Abplanalp, 1961. Evaluation of Coturnix (Japanese Quail) as pilot animal for poultry. Poultry Sci. 40: 6S1-6S7. Woodard, A. E., H. Abplanalp and W. O. Wilson, 1965. Japanese quail husbandry in the laboratory. (Coturnix coturnix japonica) Department Poultry Husbandry, Univ. Calif., Davis. 36 p. (Mimeo).
RAISING A NEW HYBRID: PHEASANT X JAPANESE QUAIL PATRICIA SARVELLA United, States Department of Agriculture' (Received for publication November 17, 1970)
Cytogenetic studies of the chicken, pheasant, quail, and turkey are of particular interest since these species are raised for domestic and experimental purposes. Hybrids have been obtained between the chicken and turkey (Gray, 1958; Olsen, 1960), chicken and quail, chicken and pheasant, and turkey and pheasant (Gray, 19S8); however, crosses between pheasant and quail have not been reported. 'Animal Science Research Beltsville, Maryland 20705.
Division, A.R.S.,
For three years I tried to produce viable hybrids from crosses of pheasant males X quail females by artificial insemination. Pheasant males were placed into individual cages, and the semen was collected similar to the chicken semen (Burrows and Quinn, 1939). The quail females were inseminated immediately. The percent of infertile eggs has stayed about the same for the three years (Table 1). In 1969, most eggs showed only membranes. About the same number of eggs had membranes with some
RESEARCH NOTES TABLE 1.—Crosses of Pheasant males X Japanese quail females 1968
1969
1970
Xo. of females 54 No. of eggs 2072 % Infertile eggs 94.3 % Membranes 2.9 % Membranes with blood ..-> % Dead in shell (1-8 days) .8 % Dead in shell (9-21 days) .6 % Dead 1st wk. after hatch .7 % Dead after lstwk. .1 % Adults .05
72 2053 92.1 "6.5 .5 .3 .4 .1
122 2758 93.9 .8 .6 1.8 1.9 .6 .1 .3
—
0
blood in all three years. Only one adult was raised in 1968; none were raised in 1969; and in 1970, seven hybrids are at least two and one-half months old. Mortality was high at all stages of development. However, after the first week, mortality decreased considerably. More hybrids were raised in 1970, since more care was given to the birds. They seemed dehydrated upon hatching; therefore. as soon as the egg had pipped or else the beak was in the air sac, a small opening was made in the shell. The hybrid was given a few drops of glucose solution (0.5%) using a fine pipette or else a small drop placed in the beak. It would readily consume the glucose solution. After it seemed to have enough, the opening was sealed with a cap of either cellophane or masking tape. This procedure was repeated several times over a period of several hours. It took from 4 to 24 hours for the hybrids to hatch after the egg had pipped. Since the shell was opened, the birds could not hatch by themselves; therefore, the shell was carefully peeled away when the blood vessels had dried up enough to permit the peeling. If the blood vessels were nicked, there was danger of hemorrhaging. After hatching, the hybrids were placed in a plastic incubator and fed glucose solution, egg yolk, and a suspension of wet mash consisting of either chicken starter or game bird
299
starter every 4 to 8 hours. Occasionally, birds would hatch by themselves. Some hybrids were capable of feeding by themselves after about 24 to 48 hours. As soon as they started eating, the hand feeding was stopped, and after a day the hybrids were placed in brooders with other hybrids. If they passed this critical period (the first week), the hybrids were fairly easy to raise. The height of the one adult pheasant X quail hybrid (Figure 1) is quite similar to the height of the two adult chicken X quail hybrids (36 cm. and 35 cm., respectively). However, the two-year old pheasant X quail hybrid weighed 555 gms., while the two year old chicken X quail hybrids average weight was 372 gms. The hybrids at hatching ranged in weight from 6.9 to 9 grams. The stance of the hybrid is similar to the chicken X quail; however, it was more like the quail since it squats down when approached. The chicken X quail hybrids are more upright in stature. The pheasant X quail head is more like the pheasant, and is more elongated than the quail. The eyes are brown like the quail, but are set higher in the skull. The legs are mostly gray in appearance. The feathers are tan and dark brown on the back, a light brown on the breast, and red-
FIG. 1. Pheasant X quail hybrid.
300
RESEARCH NOTES
dish brown and tan on the neck. Around the neck and eyes (particularly in young birds) there are tan rings. The pheasant X quail hybrids are more docile than the chicken X quails which are quite nervous. Chromosome studies will be done to determine the sex and karyotypes in relation to the pheasant and quail. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The author wishes to acknowledge the
technical assistance of Mr. Leroy Brown, Mr. Dean Montgomery and Mr. John Holloway. REFERENCES Burrows, W. H., and J. P. Quinn, 1939. Artificial insemination of chickens and turkeys. U.S.D.A. Cir. No. S2S. Gray, A. P., 19S8. Bird hybrids. Commonwealth Agr. Bureaux, Farnham Royal, Bucks, England. Olsen, M. W., 1960. Turkey-chicken hybrids. J. Hered. SI: 69-73.
A CHICK BIOASSAY FOR EVALUATING THE PROTEIN QUALITY OF DRY BREAKFAST CEREALS D.
L.
BLAMBEEG
Department of Animal and Veterinary Sciences, University of Maine, Orono, 04473 (Received for publication November 18, 1970)
Woodham (1968) has described a chick growth test of the protein efficiency ratio (PER) type for evaluating the protein quality of protein supplements in cerealbased diets. In this approach, the total protein efficiency (TPE) of the test supplement is calculated as the weight gain of the chicks divided by the total weight of the protein (supplemental plus background) consumed. The TPE technique may be utilized for protein supplements containing from 20 to 100% of crude protein and has the advantage of being applicable to the evaluation of poor quality proteins which cannot be evaluated by the conventional PER procedure because of their inability to support growth when used as the sole source of dietary protein. The recent attention drawn by Choate (1970) to the nutritive characteristics of dry breakfast cereals (DBC) emphasizes the need for biological assays as opposed to nutritional evaluations based solely upon the percentage of a nutrient present in a foodstuff. This would appear to be particularly true in the case of protein nutriture
since it is well known that the biological value of a protein is not necessarily a function of its nitrogen content (Osborne and Mendel, 1914). The present report describes a modification of the TPE method and its utility for assessing the protein quality of DBC. A quantity, approximately one and onehalf times the ultimately-desired number, of day-old male broiler-strain chicks is fed a conventional corn-soy-fish starting ration for a preliminary period of ten days. The composition of the preliminary diet is presented in Table 1; it would appear that any practical-type broiler or chick starting ration could suffice for this purpose. At the conclusion of the preliminary period, all chicks are weighed and the heaviest and lightest 16% of the population is discarded. Triplicate groups of eight chicks are allotted to each experimental treatment so that variation within experimental groups is minimized and initial group average weights are identical. The positive and negative control diets employed in this assay are shown in Table
RESEARCH NOTES
lower hatchability among heavier eggs within a trial but limits were not consistent from trial to trial. From the results of this trial it would appear that setting Coturnix eggs weighing less than 7.1 grams should be avoided. ACKNOWLEDGMENT Mrs. Barbara L. Reed weighed and incubated the eggs in the first two trials. REFERENCES Hinshaw, W. R., B. R. Burmester, A. A. Creamer, C. W. Hess, J. R. Howes, W. M. Insko, Jr. and W. O. Wilson, 1969. Coturnix (Coturnix coturnix japonica) Standards and guidelines for the breeding, care, and management of laboratory animals. National Academy of Sciences, Publication 1703. Insko, W. M., Jr., D. W. MacLaury and E. A. Baute, 1943. Weight of turkey eggs in relation to hatchability. Kentucky Agric. Exp. Sta. Bui. 449. Landauer, W., 19S1. The hatchability of chicken eggs as influenced by environment and heredity. Storrs (Connecticut) Agr. Exp. Sta. Bui. 262 (Revised). Romanoff, A. L., 1938. Study of artificial incuba-
of egg weight on hatchability (young breeders)
TABLE 2.—Effect
Weight classes grams
Number eggs
Fertile percent
Number Hatch, percent strong chicks Fertile Total
6 . 1 - 6.5 6 . 6 - 7.0 7 . 1 - 7.5 7 . 6 - 8.0 8 . 1 - 8.5 8 . 6 - 9.0 9 . 1 - 9.5 9.6-10.0 10.1-10.5 10.6-11.0 11.1-11.5 11.6-12.0
13 22 90 125 276 687 1388 1233 869 333 110 37
30.76 50.00 84.44 84.00 85.87 92.58 92.29 91.48 92.41 93.99 89.09 81.08
0 3 49 81 166 495 1053 912 662 261 77 17
0 27.27 64.47 77.14 70.04 77.83 82.20 80.85 82.44 83.39 78.57 56.67
0 13.64 54.44 64.80 60.14 72.05 75.86 73.97 76.18 78.38 70.00 45.95
Total
5183
91.11
3776
79.97
72.85
tion of game birds. III. Effect of air movement on the incubation of pheasant and quail eggs. IV. Interrelation of temperature, humidity, and air movement in the incubation of pheasant and quail eggs. Cornell University Agr. Exp. Sta. Bui. 687. Wilson, W. O., U. K. Abbott and H. Abplanalp, 1961. Evaluation of Coturnix (Japanese Quail) as pilot animal for poultry. Poultry Sci. 40: 6S1-6S7. Woodard, A. E., H. Abplanalp and W. O. Wilson, 1965. Japanese quail husbandry in the laboratory. (Coturnix coturnix japonica) Department Poultry Husbandry, Univ. Calif., Davis. 36 p. (Mimeo).
RAISING A NEW HYBRID: PHEASANT X JAPANESE QUAIL PATRICIA SARVELLA United, States Department of Agriculture' (Received for publication November 17, 1970)
Cytogenetic studies of the chicken, pheasant, quail, and turkey are of particular interest since these species are raised for domestic and experimental purposes. Hybrids have been obtained between the chicken and turkey (Gray, 1958; Olsen, 1960), chicken and quail, chicken and pheasant, and turkey and pheasant (Gray, 19S8); however, crosses between pheasant and quail have not been reported. 'Animal Science Research Beltsville, Maryland 20705.
Division, A.R.S.,
For three years I tried to produce viable hybrids from crosses of pheasant males X quail females by artificial insemination. Pheasant males were placed into individual cages, and the semen was collected similar to the chicken semen (Burrows and Quinn, 1939). The quail females were inseminated immediately. The percent of infertile eggs has stayed about the same for the three years (Table 1). In 1969, most eggs showed only membranes. About the same number of eggs had membranes with some
RESEARCH NOTES TABLE 1.—Crosses of Pheasant males X Japanese quail females 1968
1969
1970
Xo. of females 54 No. of eggs 2072 % Infertile eggs 94.3 % Membranes 2.9 % Membranes with blood ..-> % Dead in shell (1-8 days) .8 % Dead in shell (9-21 days) .6 % Dead 1st wk. after hatch .7 % Dead after lstwk. .1 % Adults .05
72 2053 92.1 "6.5 .5 .3 .4 .1
122 2758 93.9 .8 .6 1.8 1.9 .6 .1 .3
—
0
blood in all three years. Only one adult was raised in 1968; none were raised in 1969; and in 1970, seven hybrids are at least two and one-half months old. Mortality was high at all stages of development. However, after the first week, mortality decreased considerably. More hybrids were raised in 1970, since more care was given to the birds. They seemed dehydrated upon hatching; therefore. as soon as the egg had pipped or else the beak was in the air sac, a small opening was made in the shell. The hybrid was given a few drops of glucose solution (0.5%) using a fine pipette or else a small drop placed in the beak. It would readily consume the glucose solution. After it seemed to have enough, the opening was sealed with a cap of either cellophane or masking tape. This procedure was repeated several times over a period of several hours. It took from 4 to 24 hours for the hybrids to hatch after the egg had pipped. Since the shell was opened, the birds could not hatch by themselves; therefore, the shell was carefully peeled away when the blood vessels had dried up enough to permit the peeling. If the blood vessels were nicked, there was danger of hemorrhaging. After hatching, the hybrids were placed in a plastic incubator and fed glucose solution, egg yolk, and a suspension of wet mash consisting of either chicken starter or game bird
299
starter every 4 to 8 hours. Occasionally, birds would hatch by themselves. Some hybrids were capable of feeding by themselves after about 24 to 48 hours. As soon as they started eating, the hand feeding was stopped, and after a day the hybrids were placed in brooders with other hybrids. If they passed this critical period (the first week), the hybrids were fairly easy to raise. The height of the one adult pheasant X quail hybrid (Figure 1) is quite similar to the height of the two adult chicken X quail hybrids (36 cm. and 35 cm., respectively). However, the two-year old pheasant X quail hybrid weighed 555 gms., while the two year old chicken X quail hybrids average weight was 372 gms. The hybrids at hatching ranged in weight from 6.9 to 9 grams. The stance of the hybrid is similar to the chicken X quail; however, it was more like the quail since it squats down when approached. The chicken X quail hybrids are more upright in stature. The pheasant X quail head is more like the pheasant, and is more elongated than the quail. The eyes are brown like the quail, but are set higher in the skull. The legs are mostly gray in appearance. The feathers are tan and dark brown on the back, a light brown on the breast, and red-
FIG. 1. Pheasant X quail hybrid.
300
RESEARCH NOTES
dish brown and tan on the neck. Around the neck and eyes (particularly in young birds) there are tan rings. The pheasant X quail hybrids are more docile than the chicken X quails which are quite nervous. Chromosome studies will be done to determine the sex and karyotypes in relation to the pheasant and quail. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The author wishes to acknowledge the
technical assistance of Mr. Leroy Brown, Mr. Dean Montgomery and Mr. John Holloway. REFERENCES Burrows, W. H., and J. P. Quinn, 1939. Artificial insemination of chickens and turkeys. U.S.D.A. Cir. No. S2S. Gray, A. P., 19S8. Bird hybrids. Commonwealth Agr. Bureaux, Farnham Royal, Bucks, England. Olsen, M. W., 1960. Turkey-chicken hybrids. J. Hered. SI: 69-73.
A CHICK BIOASSAY FOR EVALUATING THE PROTEIN QUALITY OF DRY BREAKFAST CEREALS D.
L.
BLAMBEEG
Department of Animal and Veterinary Sciences, University of Maine, Orono, 04473 (Received for publication November 18, 1970)
Woodham (1968) has described a chick growth test of the protein efficiency ratio (PER) type for evaluating the protein quality of protein supplements in cerealbased diets. In this approach, the total protein efficiency (TPE) of the test supplement is calculated as the weight gain of the chicks divided by the total weight of the protein (supplemental plus background) consumed. The TPE technique may be utilized for protein supplements containing from 20 to 100% of crude protein and has the advantage of being applicable to the evaluation of poor quality proteins which cannot be evaluated by the conventional PER procedure because of their inability to support growth when used as the sole source of dietary protein. The recent attention drawn by Choate (1970) to the nutritive characteristics of dry breakfast cereals (DBC) emphasizes the need for biological assays as opposed to nutritional evaluations based solely upon the percentage of a nutrient present in a foodstuff. This would appear to be particularly true in the case of protein nutriture
since it is well known that the biological value of a protein is not necessarily a function of its nitrogen content (Osborne and Mendel, 1914). The present report describes a modification of the TPE method and its utility for assessing the protein quality of DBC. A quantity, approximately one and onehalf times the ultimately-desired number, of day-old male broiler-strain chicks is fed a conventional corn-soy-fish starting ration for a preliminary period of ten days. The composition of the preliminary diet is presented in Table 1; it would appear that any practical-type broiler or chick starting ration could suffice for this purpose. At the conclusion of the preliminary period, all chicks are weighed and the heaviest and lightest 16% of the population is discarded. Triplicate groups of eight chicks are allotted to each experimental treatment so that variation within experimental groups is minimized and initial group average weights are identical. The positive and negative control diets employed in this assay are shown in Table