Inheritance of plumage colour in the F1 and test cross progeny of Japanese quail

Authors

  • T. I. Adedoyin
  • T. R. Fayeye
  • O. J. Amao

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.51791/njap.v47i3.158

Keywords:

Inheritance, plumage colour, test cross, progeny, Japanese quail

Abstract

Recessive genes produced its phenotypic effect only when its allele is identical while the dominant ones produced its effect either with identical or dissimilar alleles. This study was conducted to determine the mode of inheritance of plumage colour in Japanese quail flock in Nigeria, using the Manchurian Gold (MG), Pharaoh (PH) and Panda White (PW) plumage types. All possible crosses were made among the three colour variants making a total of nine mating groups. A total number of 2,348 F1 chicks and 1,563 test cross progeny obtained from the incubated eggs were classified and counted by their down colour into observable plumage colour groups. The expected phenotypic ratios of the F1 and test cross progeny were computed based on the assumption that parents that were homozygous for a particular plumage colour breed true. The results revealed that the Pharaoh plumage quails carry the wild-type allele (Wb) in homozygous form or in heterozygous with the Panda White (wb) allele. The Manchurian gold plumage quails carry the Manchurian Gold-type allele (Wb+) in heterozygous with either Wb or wb. All the Panda White chicks were homozygous for the wb allele, which was recessive to both Wb and Wb+ alleles. The Chi-square results confirm the heterozygousity of the dominant phenotype in the test crosses. It can be concluded that inheritance of plumage colour is controlled by autosomal genes with dominant hierarchy of MG> PH> PW (Wb+ >Wb>wb).

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Published

2020-12-17

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Section

Articles