HERITABILITIES AND MATERNAL EFFECTS OF PE RFORMANCE CHARACTERS OF JAPANESE-QUAILS (COTURNIX-COTURNIX JAP)

The performance characters of the quail - body weight, egg performance , carcass characteristics and fertility were analysed with different m ethods of the estimation of heritability and maternal effects. These w ere the method of variance components estimation the regression and co rrelation methods and also the simulated selection method. The best re sults of the heritabilities were obtained with the method of variance component estimation and with the parent-offspring regressions. The fu ll-sib and also the half-sib methods resulted in an overestimation of h(2). Significant influences of maternal effects were found for the tr aits body weight and egg performances but nor for the traits of fertil ity, carcass and egg composition.