The future of Japanese quail for research and production

Japanese quail research measured by the number of published papers has gradually diminished over the past 10 years, and the trend appears to be due to the decrease of works using Japanese quail as an animal model or for biological studies. The flow of avian science-related papers on quail published in international journals remains about constant and low over the same period as the number of teams or laboratories with a quail research programme are few. On the other hand, commercial production of Japanese quail for eggs and meat is difficult to track precisely, and it is quite unequal across countries and continents, with increasing production in a few places, like Brazil. The futures of quail research and of quail production are not independent, however, and better links between both activities are needed to promote relevant research, explore new avenues of quail production, and help maintain this bird as an essential animal model.