SEX RATIOS AND KARYOTYPE IN THE CHICKEN-COTURNIX QUAIL HYBRID

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Abstract
Chicken-coturnix quail hybrids were produced by inseminating coturnix quail females with chicken male semen. Twelve post-hatched hybrid chicks were found to be cytological males with a Z chromosome from each parent. Gonad development ranged from a very imperfect testis to female-like organs in birds examined at 18 weeks of age. Thirty 60-70 hr. embryos were examined cytologically of which 11 were females and 19 were males. The majority of the female embryos were abnormal or retarded as compared to the male embryos. Evidence suggests that there is not selective fertilization, but that there is early embryonic mortality of the females. This adverse effect on female embryos is due to some kind of interaction between the Z of one species (chicken) and/or the W of the other species (quail) as the remainder of the genome and the cytoplasm are common to both male and female hybrid embryos.

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