Determination of body weight-age relationship by non-linear models in Japanese quail

Abstract

The objectives of this study were to determine the body weight-age with different models and to choose the best fitted model. The study was designed to collect a total of 8 weekly body weight records from 142 quails from birth up to 56 days of age in Tekirdag, Turkey, The Negative Exponential, Brody, Gompertz, Logistic and Bertalanffy Models were used to determine growth characteristics of quail in the present study. The model parameters were calculated for each model and the comparisons among the models were done based on the coefficient of determination (R(2)), adjusted coefficient of determination (R(adj)(2)), Mean Square Error (MSE), the Akaike's Information Criteria (AIC), Residual Standard Deviation (RSD) and Residual Mean (RIVI) as fit criteria. As a conclusion, the Logistic Model (R(2) = 0.98, R(2) = 0.97, MSE = 9.79, AIC = 20.49, RSD = 3.13 and RM = 6.42) resulted in the best fit model for body weight-age in Japanese quail.