Cross Fertility between the Wild Japanese Quail in the Weishan Lake Area and Domestic Quail

Cross fertility between wild Japanese quail and domestic quail was explored in an experiment conducted on 18（3♂, 15♀）wild Japanese quails in Weishan Lake area, 18（3♂, 15♀）medium-sized domestic quails and 18（3♂, 15♀）pint-sized domestic quails, which were divided into nine groups. This study demonstrated that wild quail could succeed in crossing with domestic quail,producing fertilized eggs and hatching first filial generation. The findings indicated that there were no reproduction isolation between the wild Japanese quail and domestic quail, and that the best cross combination was between wild male quail and medium-sized domestic female quail, in which the fertility rate and hatchability of fertilized eggs amounted to 42.86% and 29.63% respectively. Based on the results, a new way could be adopted to protect, exploit and utilize genetic resources of wild quail.