Poultry Egg Incubation: Integrating and Optimizing Production Efficiency

Abstract

Due to its central position in the production chain, in-ovo development is influenced by pre-incubation factors that affect the quality of embryonated eggs and incubation conditions themselves, and both may influence egg hatchability and chick quality, as well as bird survival, growth performance, and phenotype in the field. The evolution of the incubation process over the years is characterized by significant scientific and technological development. Presently, the main current focuses of research are the manipulation of thermal incubation conditions, eggshell temperature, and the integrated effects of factors that influence incubation. In this context, one of the questions that needs to be asked is how effective are the current physical conditions of incubation to promote greater hatchability and better quality chicks, and higher survival and better performance in the field under adverse conditions or not. What are the new and future prospects for incubation? The purpose of this paper was to review the role of the physical agents of incubation, such as temperature, relative humidity, O 2 and CO 2 concentration, and egg turning and position from an integrated perspective, considering egg incubation as the transitional link between egg and poultry production.

Genome-Wide Epigenetic Studies in Chicken: A Review

“…Here we summarize considerations for avian epigenome investigation from sequencing considerations to the data analysis involving huge datasets. The importance of a carefully designed and executed experimental design has been addressed in previous reports [90,91]. In particular, experimental design should take into account parental history (such as rearing conditions and nutrition) and hatchery practices.…”

Data mining as a hatchery process evaluation tool

“…The higher relative air humidity in the incubator for BB is related to the larger egg size and greater eggshell pore number, losing more water during embryo development changing the incubation environment (Boleli et al, 2016;Araújo et al, 2017). The presence of this variable in the construction of rules is consistent since many incubation problems arise from changes in the variables of the physical incubation environment.…”

Towards the Development of a Smart Photovoltaic-Powered Temperature Controlled Poultry Egg Incubator

“…The physical and pre-incubation conditions affect the physical relationship of the egg and the air of the incubator, heat transfer and the exchange of O 2 , CO 2 , and water. The optimal values of the physical agents in the incubator plays relevant factors to a smooth process characterized by embryo metabolism rate, and, may cause deviations from [18].…”

“…In this present age of information technology, the control and automation of devices, machines, and systems are achievable with the use of programmed microcontrollers and the use of renewable power sources. Artificial egg incubation systems is a significant technological and scientific development allowing the transition from manual incubation to large incubation machines and hatcheries, which incubate a much higher number of eggs using less labor, increasing chick production throughout the year [15]. The core concept of the research focuses on the design of a solar-powered incubator.…”