Influence of egg pre-storage heating period and storage length on the digestive tract of newly-hatched broiler chicks

Abstract

An experiment was carried out to evaluate the effect of different heating times of settable eggs of Cobb 500® broiler breeders before submitting them to different storage periods on body weight, digestive tract organ weights, and intestinal mucosa morphology of newly-hatched chicks. Settable eggs were distributed in a completely randomized experimental design with a 3 x 3 factorial arrangement: pre-storage heating periods (0, 6, 12 hours at 36.92°C) and storage periods (4, 9, 14 days at 12.06°C). Body weight and relative weights of the yolk sac, heart, liver, proventriculus+gizzard, and intestinal segments were measured in chicks hatching at 480 and 498 hours of incubation. Villi height, width and perimeter, and crypt depth (ìm) were measured in duodenal histological sections. It was concluded that pre-storage heating for six hours of eggs stored for four or nine days increases small intestine weight of newly-hatched chicks, but does not influence the morphology of the duodenal mucosa. Pre-storage heating for 12 hours negatively influences body weight and duodenal mucosa development, and therefore this practice is not recommended. Storage length does not have consistent effect on body weight and development of the gastrointestinal tract

A review on yolk sac utilization in poultry

“…However, especially layer or parent stock hatcheries sometimes need to prolong the storage duration ( Tona et al., 2003b , Fasenko, 2007 ), dependent on the supply of hatching eggs, hatchery capacity, and market demand for day-old chickens ( Fasenko, 2007 ). Egg storage beyond 7 D is associated with a longer incubation duration ( Yassin et al., 2009 ), lower hatchability ( Tona et al., 2004 , Silva et al., 2008 ), lower chicken quality at hatch ( Silva et al., 2008 , Yassin et al., 2009 ), lower subsequent growth performance, and a higher posthatch mortality ( Tona et al., 2004 ). Table 1 shows that broiler chickens originating from eggs that were stored beyond 7 D did not seem to differ in chicken weight or YFBM at hatch but had a 0.9-g smaller residual yolk weight at hatch than chickens originating from eggs stored for less than 7 D, which may be explained by a longer incubation duration.…”

“…(2010) found that chickens from eggs stored for 4 D compared with 14 D had a higher YFBM of 0.5 g at hatch, but a comparable residual yolk weight (5.8 vs. 6.1 g, for eggs stored for 4 or 14 D, respectively) at 12 h after emergence from the eggshell. Silva et al. (2008) (4, 9, or 14 D of storage) and Yalçin et al.…”