Divergent cloacal gland responses to short days in Japanese quail and short-term related consequences on social behavior and reproduction

DOMINCHIN MF; BUSSO JM; GUZMÁN DA; KEMBRO JM; MARIN RH

Louisville

Congreso; Annual Meeting of Poutry Science Association; 2015

Poultry Sciencie Association http://www.poultryscience.org/psa15/

Exposureto short day photoperiod (SD) in Japanese quail reduced gonadal development,and consequently, their cloacal gland (CG) size, reproductive capacity andaggressive behaviors. Interestingly, not all quail fully responded to SDinhibition with some birds even showing no CG response. In a previous work,quail in SD were arbitrarily classified by their divergent CG development aseither responsive (R) or nonresponsive (NR), with NR males showing on averageintermediate CG and testosterone values between R and long day photoperiod rearedmales (LD). Herein we evaluated whether R and NR males differ in socialinteractions and reproductive potential while under SD. LD males were used ascontrols with full reproductive capacity. ANOVAs, X2 observed vs.expected and proportion tests were used to detect differences at P<0.05.Firstly, during peak photoinhibition (5wk after SP exposure) we assessedmale-male aggressive interactions determining winners and losers.Individually-caged R, NR and LD residents received 5-min LD male intruder visitsalong 4 consecutive days. Next wk, same males received 10-min visits from a LDfemale partner along 3 days to determine whether those males could fertilizethem. Male interactions showed that LD, NR and R residents respectively won100, 64 and 0% of the fights and were able to fecundate 100, 100 and 17% of thefemales. Then, male-female encounters were again repeated 4 wk later to assesswhether previous social interactions could modulate later reproductiveperformances during an initial photorefraction stage. Naive R, NR and LD maleresidents were used as controls. Mounts, CG contacts, and fertility showed an R< NR = LD pattern. Copulatory efficiency (CE) was found higher in NRcompared to R and LP quail. No effects of previous social interactions weredetected. Findings suggest that while on SD, NR males are able to breedsimilarly to their LD counterparts regardless of the outcome of a previoussocial interaction. Potential differences in the expression of aggressionbetween NR and LD males may underlie the observed differences in CE.