Influence of egg storage time and preincubation warming profile on embryonic development, hatchability, and chick quality

Abstract

When eggs are stored beyond 7 d, hatchability and chick quality decrease. The cause of the negative effects of prolonged egg storage is not clear. The negative effects may be caused by a decrease in embryo viability due to an increase in cell death. The optimal time and curve of preincubation warming (the preincubation warming profile) may be different for eggs stored over short and long periods of time because embryo viability is dependent on egg storage time. The aim of this study was to investigate whether preincubation warming profiles affect embryonic development, hatchability, and chick quality when eggs are stored for a short or prolonged time. Two experiments were conducted. In both experiments, a 2x2 completely randomized design was used with 2 storage times (4 and 14 d at 17 degrees C in experiment I and 4 and 13 d at 19 degrees C in experiment II) and 2 preincubation warming profiles (within 4 or 24 h from storage temperature to 37.8 degrees C). In experiment I, results suggested that the effect of preincubation warming profile on hatchability was dependent on storage time. However, because a low number of eggs were used in this experiment, these differences were not significant. In experiment II, the interaction between storage time and preincubation warming profile was observed for embryonic mortality during the first 2 d of incubation and hatchability (P=0.006 and P=0.01, respectively). When storage time was 13 d, embryonic mortality during the first 2 d of incubation decreased by 4.4% and hatchability increased by 5.7% when the 24-h preincubation warming profile was used instead of the 4-h preincubation warming profile. However, no effect of preincubation warming profile was observed when storage time was 4 d. In both experiments, chick quality decreased when storage time increased but was not affected by preincubation warming profile. We concluded that a slow preincubation warming profile is beneficial for hatchability when storage time is prolonged but does not affect chick quality.

Caracterização do microclima dos diferentes layouts de caixas no transporte de ovos férteis

“…Entretanto, para a fisiologia do ovo fértil a temperatura dos dois layouts esteve acima do recomendado pela literatura, na qual é ressaltado que os ovos férteis devem ser armazenados em condição de temperatura ambiente abaixo 20 ºC, ou seja, abaixo do zero fisiológico (Fasenko et al, 1991;1992). Quando essa temperatura se eleva o desenvolvimento embrionário é acelerado antes dos ovos serem incubados, o que resultará, como sequência, em perdas produtivas tais como a perda de água excessiva dos ovos, mortalidade e má-formação embrionária, diminuição da eclodibilidade e qualidade de pintos de corte (Reijrink et al, 2008;Rocha et al, 2008;Elibol & Brake, 2008ae 2008bAraújo et al, 2009;Reijrink et al, 2009;Nazareno, 2012).…”

Effect of Eggshell Color on the Egg Characteristics and Hatchability of Guinea Fowl (Numida Meleagris) Eggs

“…Eggs were stored at 75% relative humidity (RH) and 13°C (Woodard & Morzenti, 1975;Caglayan et al, 2009;González-Redondo, 2010;Reijrink et al, 2010) during the egg collection period.…”

Significance of chick quality score in broiler production

“…These data may, however, also be indicative for subsequent flock performance. In scientific research, the percentage of second grade chicks in a flock has been used as an indicator of flock quality and found to vary with egg storage duration (Tona et al, 2004;Reijrink et al, 2010), pre-incubation treatments during storage (Reijrink et al, 2009) and incubation temperature profile (Lourens et al, 2005), and large variation (0.0% to 20.6%) was found among these studies. Chicks were classified as second grade when they 'were not able to stand straight up or showed visible signs of suboptimal incubation conditions, such as red hocks or rough navels' (Lourens et al, 2005), or as all chicks that were not a first grade chick, 'being clean, dry and free from deformities, completely sealed navel, and no yolk sac or residual membrane protruding from the navel' (Tona et al, 2004;Reijrink et al, 2009 and.…”