Ontogeny of copulatory behaviour in male Japanese quail classified by their T-maze performance as hatchlings.

LABAQUE, M. C.; KEMBRO J. M.; GUZMAN D. A.; NAZAR, F. N.; MARIN R. H.

BRITISH POULTRY SCIENCE

Taylor and Francis

Año: 2008 vol. 49 p. 409 - 417

0007-1668

1. The present study examined the time courses of male mating behaviours using quail that were categorized at 2 days of age as high performance (HP) or low performance (LP) individuals in a T-maze. 2. Individually-caged males from each T-maze category were observed during 5 min after a female of the same category (HP or LP) was introduced into their home cages as a sexual partner at 4, 5, 6, 8, 10 and 12 weeks of age. The number of grabs, mounts, and cloacal contacts performed by each male and his copulatory efficiency (number of cloacal contacts/number of grabs; CE) was determined at each time interval. 3. No differences were observed in the proportion of HP and LP males performing grabs at any of the ages evaluated. However, a greater proportion of HP males showed mounting and cloacal contact behaviour, coupled with a higher CE than did their LP counterparts at 5 and 6, 6 and 8, and 8 weeks of age, respectively. At those ages, a significantly higher mean number of mounts and cloacal contacts were also observed. No significant sexual behaviour differences between HP and LP quail were observed at 10 and 12 weeks of age. 4. The results suggest that rapid negotiation of the T-maze in hatchlings is associated with accelerated puberty in male quail. The differential reproductive behaviour of HP males during the development of puberty does not remain extant in fully developed quail. 5. The present findings of accelerated male developmental sexual activity responses in HP quail represent a favourable outcome that selection for T-maze HP behaviour may provide – may allow males to be successfully bred at an earlier age.