Production systems of Japanese quail (Coturnix coturnix japonica) in the urban communities of southwestern Nigeria.

Abstract

The study was conducted to examine the management practices and constraints associated with quail production in southwestern Nigeria. Data were collected through a survey of 113 quail bird farmers selected by multi-stage sampling technique from three states of southwestern Nigeria. Data were analyzed mainly by descriptive statistics with values compared across states using relevant statistics at certain instances. The results show that quail farming is a relatively new enterprise with farmers' average year of experience estimated as 4.52years. Production was predominantly for the sale of eggs and table birds (46.90%). They were reared under intensive system (87.61%) and in deep litters (53.10%). Birds were commonly reared with chicken (71.03% of the farmers). Foundation stocks were sourced from commercial farms (33.63%) and hatcheries (25.66%), while birds were fed on compounded feed by 73.45% of the farmers in the morning and evening (55.75%). Veterinary support services were sought occasionally by 76.99% of the farmers while 55.7 and 40.71% of the farmers vaccinated and dewormed their birds, respectively. Disease incidence was generally low across the states with incidence in 13.27% of the farms with associated mortality of 2.05%. Quail eggs and birds were predominantly sold at farm gate (81.42%) at average prices of N632.94 per crate and N584.09 per bird respectively. Notable constraints were inadequate technical knowledge on feed formulation, difficulty in meat processing and marketing, which need to be addressed for upscaling the technology.