Search

ABSTRACT: This study aimed to determine the impact of the age of breeder hens and egg storage on egg quality, embryonic development, hatching events and chick quality in FUNAAB-alpha chickens. The study involved the use of 500 hatching eggs each collected from 32-wk and 60-wk-old of FUNAAB-alpha broiler breeder hens at the Animal Breeding and Genetic Unit of the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, Nigeria and subjected to 5 storage periods (0, 3, 7, 11, and 15 d). The quality traits of the eggs were recorded and incubated using the conventional protocol. Data were collected on the internal and external egg characteristics, embryonic development, hatching events, and chick quality. The data collected were laid out in 2 by 5 factorial design. The results showed that eggs from 32-wk-old breeder hens had higher albumen height and Haugh unit (HU) value than those from 60-wk-old breeders. The albumen height and HU decreased progressively with storage length in the 2 age groups. Extended storage duration linearly increased (P < 0.01) egg weight loss and decreased (P < 0.01) yolk height. The eggs from both breeder ages had increasing blastodermal diameters at oviposition up until d 11 of storage but decreased on d 15 of storage in eggs from 32 wk breeders. Eggs of 32-wk-old FUNAAB-alpha breeder hens had larger diameters at oviposition compared with 60-wk-old breeders. The chicks from 60-wk breeder had late internal pipping (469.06 h), early external pipping (474.46 h) and a shorter time lag between both pips (9.00 h) compared to chicks from 32 wk breeder. The highest fertility was recorded in eggs stored for 3 d (80.7% and 79.6%), while the lowest fertility was in eggs stored for 15 d (53.4% and 47.7%) in both 32-wk and 60-wk-old breeders, respectively. Chicks from young breeder hens stored for 3 d had better quality scores (100%) compared to 0, 7, 11, and 15-d storage duration and in 60-wk-old breeders across all storage duration. It was concluded that both egg storage duration and age of breeder affected egg quality, hatching events and hatchling quality of FUNAAB-alpha chickens and the interaction effects of both factors was recorded for some of these traits. However, extended storage beyond 7 d had a larger negative impact on egg quality and hatchability of eggs from an old breeder (60 wk) than on eggs of a young breeder (32 wk).

The objective of this study was to investigate the effects in ovo injection of black cumin (BC) extract on chick's quality and response of thermally challenged broiler chickens. A total of 700 hatching eggs of broiler chickens (Marshall) were assigned to 7 treatments of 100 eggs each and incubated using the conventional protocol (37.8°C) for the first 10 d and then exposed to a high temperature (39.6°C) for 6 h daily from day 10 until day 18 of the incubation. At embryonic day 17.5, the eggs were randomly allotted to 7 treatment groups, viz.: eggs without in ovo injection (WA), eggs injected with 0.9% saline solution (SA), 3 mg ascorbic acid (AA), 2 mg BC (TB), 4 mg BC (FB), 6 mg BC (SB), and 8 mg BC (EB) extracts. Experiment was laid out in a Completely Randomized Design. After hatching, the chicks were reared separately according to in ovo treatments for 8 wk. Data were collected on hatchability, chick quality, internal organs, growth performance, plasma superoxide dismutase, malondialdehyde, and triiodothyronine (T3). The results showed that the hatchability of the eggs in the AA group was similar to that of SB eggs and higher than that of the other treatment groups. The intestinal weights of SB and EB birds were significantly higher (P < 0.05) than those of TB, SA, and WA. The final weights of the birds of SB and AA were higher (P < 0.05) than those of other treatments. The feed conversion ratio of the birds of TB and FB was comparable to that of EB and WA but higher than that of SB and AA. At hatch, the creatinine of the birds in SA and WA was similar to that of EB, FB, and TB but higher (P < 0.05) than that of AA and SB. Also, the plasma malondialdehyde, T3, and superoxide dismutase of SB and AA birds were better (P < 0.05) than those of the control groups. Overall, it was concluded that 6 mg of BC extract improved the antioxidant status and posthatch performance of thermally challenged broiler chickens.