EPIGENETICS AFFECTING EGG PRODUCTION TRAITS THROUGH THE ADDITION OF TURMERIC IN DIETS AND ESTIMATING GENETIC PARAMETERS IN THREE INBRED SYRIAN QUAIL GENOTYPES F4

Abstract

The study was conducted at the Aleppo University Research Centre. It evaluated the effects of a genetic improvement programme of inbreeding and epigenetics by adding different levels of turmeric powder in diets on production traits. It also used epigenetic and phenotypic information to reduce the negative effects of fourth-generation female inbred Syrian quail genotypes, estimate production/genetic parameters on egg production/quality traits, and establish phenotypic and genetic correlations between parent-offsprings through variance components in the generations. Data analysis of the fourth generation indicated that the second group 1% turmeric recorded the highest value for most of the egg production coefficients. Heritability coefficient values for the studied traits ranged from 0.22 to 0.68 while phenotypic correlations for EN and EM traits were positive 0.88. Strong genetic correlations were observed between ShW and YW, and EM and YW, respectively. Multigenerational genetic improvement programmes using inbreeding to create pure breeds and epigenetics using turmeric to reduce the negative effects of inbreeding and improve production parameters for local Syrian quail.

Keywords

• epigenetics
• syrian quail
• inbreeding
• turmeric
• egg production
• genetic parameters