SUMMARYThis study was conducted to describe the growth pattern of Japanese quails with the Gompertz growth model using body weight measurements from an unselected, random bred quail population. The coefficient of determination (R 2 ) was high for both male and female (0.98) indicating that the growth curves of the observed data were adequately described by the Gompertz model. However, male and female Japanese quails did not have identical growth patterns. Generally, females appeared to be heavier than males at all ages and this difference increased with age. Both male and female Japanese quail were 4 % mature at hatch but reached 98 and 96 % respectively, of their mature weights at 12 weeks of age. Thus, males matured faster than females though the latter had higher weights. Asymptotic weight (A) was higher (p<0.05) in females (168.83 g) than males (132.71 g) as was the case with integration constant (B). In contrast, maturity rate (k) was higher (p<0.05) in males (0.3765) compared to females (0.3262). Thus, a strong and negative relationship (-0.7981 and -0.8498 for male and female respectively) between maturation rate and asymptotic weight was observed. Age, weight and maximum gain at point of inflection for male and female Japanese quails were 2.48 vs. 2.91 weeks, 48.82 vs. 62.11 g and, 18.38 vs. 20.26 g respectively. Males reached the inflection point at a significantly (p<0.05) earlier age than females. Similarly, they had lower inflection weight and gain than female quail. And it explains difference between males and females Japanese quail in Nigeria. RESUMENEste estudio fue realizado para describir el crecimiento de la codorniz japonesa, mediante el modelo de Gompertz, empleando medidas del peso corporal, tomadas al azar, de una población no seleccionada de codornices. El coeficiente de determinación (R 2 ) fue elevado (0,98) tanto para machos como para hembras, indicando que las curvas de crecimiento generadas con los datos obtenidos fueron adecuadamente descritas empleando el modelo de Gompertz. Sin embargo, los modelos de crecimiento de las codornices machos y hembras, no son iguales. Generalmente las hembras parecen más pesadas que los machos a cualquier edad y esta diferencia se incrementa con la edad. Tanto los machos como las hembras de codorniz japonesa estaban al 4 % de su madurez al nacimiento, pero alcanzaron, respectivamente, el 98 y 96 % de sus pesos maduros a las doce semanas de edad. Es decir, los machos maduraron más rápidamente que las hembras aunque éstas tenían pesos más elevados. El peso asintótico (A) fue más alto (p<0,05) en las hembras (168,83 g) que en los machos (132,71 g), lo mismo sucedió con la constante de integración (B). En contraste, la tasa de maduración (k) fue mayor (p<0,05) en los machos (0,3765) que en las hembras (0,3262). Así, se observó una fuerte correlación negativa (-0,7981 y -0,8498 para machos y hembras respectivamente) entre la tasa de maduración y el peso asintótico. La edad, peso y ganacia máxima en el punto de inflexión para machos y hembras de codorniz jap...

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BSTRACT Growth performance of 194 kids of Sahel (S), Red Sokoto (RS) and West African Dwarf (WAD) breeds of goats from birth to 9 months of age was studied. Effect of breed was significant (p<0.001) with S (2.07kg-13.49kg) breed being heavier than RS (1.81kg-13.77kg) and WAD (1.42KG-8.63 kg) though they were comparable with RS at 9months. At all ages, WAD was the lightest. Seasonal effect showed that animals born in the wet season were significantly (p<0.001) heavier than those born in the dry season at the early ages, while those born in the dry cold were heavier at the late ages. Litter size and sex also affected body weights. Single birth (1.96kg-13.64kg) and male (1.88kg-12.64kg) kids had significantly heavier weights compared with multiple birth (1.66kg-12.33kg) and female (1.67kg-11.28kg) kid, respectively. Sahel (56.33g/day) and RS (56.22g/day) had similar preweaning average daily gain but, both gained more significantly (p<0.001) than WAD (35.31g/day). Red Sokoto, however gained more than S at postweaning stage, while WAD still had the lowest (p<0.001) gain. Effect of season on preweaning gain followed the same trend as body weights. Effect of parity, litter size and sex on rate of gain, which significantly (p<0.01) favoured 4 th parity, single and male kids respectively at the preweaning stage were not significant at the postweaning stages. The results of this study revealed that growth of Nigerian breeds of goats is generally low. Effort is required to provide standard environment, particularly at the preweanig stages, for improved productivity. In addition, before selection, adjustment in needed for any factors that affect performance.

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This study focused on polymorphisms of haemoglobin in some indigenous ruminants. Blood samples were collected from a total of 2400 ruminants (600 cattle, 900 goats and 900 sheep) and analyzed. Body Weight (BW) and Nine linear body measurements viz: Height at withers (HW), Body length (BL), Heart girth (HG), Face length (FL), Neck length (NL), Neck width (NW), Rump width (RW), Ear length (EL), Tail length (TL) and shoulder width (SW) were measured on each animal prior to blood sample collection. The results revealed that animals with heterozygotes genotype Hb AB had higher values for body weight (313.42 kg), body length (158.23 cm), shoulder width (28.21 cm) and heart girth (150.39 cm) in cattle. In goats, individuals with Hb BB and Hb AB had similar heart girth (69.33 and 66.16 cm), body weight (21.08 and 20.92 kg), and shoulder width (10.43 and 10.23 cm), though they were better than those with Hb AA genotype. In conclusion, while Hb AA is an adaptation genotype in sheep, Hb AB is the genotype of choice for both adaptation and meat traits in cattle and goats.