Comparison of three non-linear models for describing Japanese quail growth curve

This study has focused on the comparison of Richards, Gompertz and Logistic growth models (functions) for describing the growth characteristics of three meat-type lines of Japanese quail.The live body weight data of wild-type, doted-white and extended-brown quail lines over time were collected and fitted to the three non-linear equations.The prediction performance of the models was evaluated by statistical error tests: mean percentage error (MPE), mean bias error (MBE), root mean square error (RMSE), and confidence interval test (CIT) using the data of three out bred lines of Japanese quails (dotted white, extended brown and wild in plumage colour).The prediction performance of the growth functions for the quail growth curves depends on the line and sex of quails as shown by the results of statistical error tests.In general, Richards function predicted the weight of quails better than other two growth functions.Commonly used statistical error tests (MPE, MBE and RMSE) may not reflect the prediction performance of growth models as accurately as confidence interval test.Confidence interval tests generated likeness percentage values between 82.35 and 100% for Richards growth function.