the morning from the Quail unit of the Teaching and Research Farm, which were obtained from one hundred and ninety female quails at 9 weeks of age. These freshly laid eggs were washed with clean water and dried with towel to remove dirts and contaminants from the shell. They were arranged on plastic egg trays, placed under fans to blow away tiny particle(s) that may be attached to the egg shell.

\subsection{Data collection}
Data were collected on egg weight, egg length, egg width, albumen height, yolk height, yolk width, shell thickness and haugh unit to determine the relationship between the internal and external components and to develop prediction equations to estimate egg weight using both components.

\subsection{Statistical analysis}
Correlation coefficient (R$^2$) and regression coefficient (b) between variables were estimated with SAS software \cite{SAS_2002}. Similarly, the prediction equations were developed using the linear function earlier defined by \cite{Glover_Mitchell_2015} and depicted as:

Y = (y - bx) + bX => Y = y + b(X - x)

Where X and Y represent the independent and dependent variables respectively. When the values of these parameters were incorporated into the linear function defined above, a total of fifteen prediction equations were generated. Haugh unit (HU) was computed using:

HU = 100 log(H + 7.57 - 1.7W$^{0.37}$).

\section{Results and discussion}
Descriptive statistics for the egg components measured is shown on Table~\ref{tab:table_1}. The mean weight of quail egg (9.13g) in this study was lower than 11.28, and 10.34g reported by \cite{Kul_Seker_2004} and \cite{Dudusola_2010}, respectively and higher than 7.041g reported by \cite{Mudhar_2011}. Mean egg weight, egg length, egg width, albumen height, yolk height, yolk width, shell thickness and Haugh unit were 9.13g, 2.97, 2.33, 0.57, 1.14, 2.18cm, 0.13mm and 100.57, respectively. The result showed that the mean yolk height (1.114cm) was greater than albumen height (0.057 cm) which was also reported by \cite{Olawumi_Ogunlade_2008}.

\begin{table}[h]
\centering
\caption{Internal and external components of Japanese quail eggs}
\label{tab:table_1}
\begin{tabular}{ll}
Parameters & Mean $\pm$ SEM \\
Egg weight (g) & 9.13 $\pm$ 0.06 \\
Egg length (cm) & 2.97 $\pm$ 0.01 \\
Egg width (cm) & 2.33 $\pm$ 0.05 \\
Albumen height (cm) & 0.57 $\pm$ 0.09 \\
Shell thickness (cm) & 0.13 $\pm$ 0.03 \\
Yolk height (cm) & 1.14 $\pm$ 0.08 \\
Yolk width (cm) & 2.18 $\pm$ 0.01 \\
Haugh unit & 57.68 $\pm$ 0.11 \\
\end{tabular}

Key: SEM = Standard error of the mean
\end{table}

The level of affinity between egg components considered is shown on Table 2. Egg weight correlate positively and significantly with egg width, egg length, yolk height and yolk width which implies that as each of these components increases, egg weight also increases. The correlation between Egg Weight and Egg Length (0.813), Egg Width and Egg Length (0.469) and Egg Weight and Egg Length (0.785) in this study were similar to \cite{Kul_Seker_2004} who reported correlation of 0.80, 0.76 and 0.35 respectively. The correlation between egg width and haugh unit was significant but negative. Egg width correlates significantly and positively with