Age-related changes in haematologic parameters of cage-raised Japanese quails (Cortunix japonica)

Blood samples were collected from clinically normal, cage-raised Japanese quails at regular intervals, over a six-week period. Full routine haematological analyses were carried out to establish reference values for growing individuals of this species and to assess age-related changes. The results of this study showed an initial significant reduction (p˂0.001) in the values of the mean corpuscular volume (MCV) and mean corpuscular haemoglobin (MCH) at the second week of age relative to the values at the first week of age. However, MCV values significantly increased (p˂0.001) weekly, up to the sixth week of age. Similarly, significant decrease (p˂0.05) was observed in the total white blood cell count at the second week of age, but subsequently remains unaltered throughout the period of the experiment. However, the heterophil:lymphocyte ratio increased significantly (p<0.05) with increase in the age of birds. The observations in this study compares favourably with published literature.   Key words: Quails, haematology, age.