Title: Effects of egg weight and breeder age on egg quality, hatching parameters and post-hatch performance of Cherry Valley broiler ducks
Abstract:Abstract This study was conducted to evaluate the effects of egg weight and breeder age on hatching egg quality, incubation parameters, and post-hatch growth performance of Cherry Valley broiler ducks...Abstract This study was conducted to evaluate the effects of egg weight and breeder age on hatching egg quality, incubation parameters, and post-hatch growth performance of Cherry Valley broiler ducks. A total of 1512 hatching eggs obtained from a flock of Cherry Valley duck broiler breeders were evaluated in two experiments. Seven hundred and fifty-six (756) incubating eggs were categorized into three weight groups as small (77 – 81 g), medium (84 – 89 g) and large (91 – 95 g) and two breeder age groups (32 and 73 weeks). At hatch, day-old ducklings were randomly assigned to their respective groups with 6 replicates and 15 ducklings per pen using a completely randomized design. Results (experiment 1) showed that hatching egg weight significantly influenced (P = 0.028) eggshell thickness, Haugh unit, albumen weight, yolk weight, and egg weight loss during incubation. Egg weight also influenced (P < 0.05) feed intake and slaughter weight of the ducklings. The results obtained in study 2 clearly showed a negative effect (P = 0.0004) of breeder age on eggshell percentage and thickness, Haugh unit and hatchability. Hatching weight and average daily weight gain for the first 7 days were higher (P < 0.05) for chicks from the older breeders. Feed consumption and feed conversion ratio were not affected (P > 0.05) by the breeder age. Higher mortality was observed in the 73-week-old group in the early phase of the rearing period. It can be concluded that breeder age altered egg quality, which is manifested during the embryonic and post-embryonic development, especially in hatching rate and survivability of the ducklings during the early rearing phase. The weight of the day-old ducklings increased with egg weight without impact on embryo mortality, hatchability and fertility.Read More
Publication Year: 2022
Publication Date: 2022-11-01
Language: en
Type: article
Indexed In: ['crossref']
Access and Citation
Cited By Count: 2
AI Researcher Chatbot
Get quick answers to your questions about the article from our AI researcher chatbot