Ahemeral Light-Dark Cycles and Egg Production Parameters of Ring-Necked Pheasants (Phasianus colchicus)

Abstract

The effects of two ahemeral light-dark (L:D) cycles on ring-necked pheasant egg production were investigated in this experiment. Three groups of 36 female and 12 male 10-month-old birds were exposed to control 24-hr (14L:10D), ahemeral 22-hr (14L:8D), or ahemeral 26-hr (14L:12D) L:D cycle. Average percent hen-day egg production (HDEP) was 63.8 for hens exposed to ahemeral 26-hr L:D cycle compared with 55.6% HDEP for the controls. Although this was not significant (P less than .05). It suggests a trend for pheasants exposed to ahemeral L:D cycles to improve egg production. Ahemeral L:D cycles did not significantly (P greater than .05) affect egg mass, shell-less eggs, cracked eggs, egg hatchability, and embryonic mortality. Shell quality, measured by specific gravity and shell thickness, was significantly (P less than or equal to .05) reduced for eggs obtained from hens exposed to ahemeral 22-hr L:D cycle. Fertility of eggs from hens kept under ahemeral 26-hr L:D cycle was significantly (P less than or equal to .05) improved compared with fertility of eggs from controls (89.3 vs. 78.4). Results of this research suggest that long ahemeral L:D cycles do play a role in the improvement of pheasant egg production and egg fertility.

Effect of different egg storage times on some egg quality characteristics and hatchability of pheasants (Phasianus colchicus)

“…In this study there was no significant effect of storage time on egg weight. Egg weight values were similar to those reported by Woodard et al (1983), 30.6 g; Blake et al (1987), 31.9 to 34.4 g; Slaugh et al (1988), 31.00 to 32.3 g; Tserveni-Gousi and Yannakopoulos (1990), 30.49 g; Yannakopoulos (1992), 33.99 g; Çetin et al (1997) 33.36 g; Kırıkçı et al (2003b), 31.03 g; Günlü et al (2007), 30.22 to 32.19 g; and also Kırıkçı et al (2005), 31.89 and 31.16 g for brown and green eggs, respectively. However, the egg weights in the present study were higher than the values of 28.1 to 29.5 g reported by Woodard and Snyder (1978) and 25.79 g The differences between values with different superscript letters in the same column are significant (P < 0.05).…”

“…Storage time did not significantly affect fertility ratio values. Fertility ratio determined in with the present study is similar to fertility ratios reported in previous studies (Woodard et al, 1983;Mashaly et al, 1983;Bates et al, 1987;Blake et al, 1987;Slaugh et al, 1988;Yannakopoulos, 1992;Çetin et al, 1997;Wadland, 2001, 2002;Kırıkçı et al, 2003b).…”

“…The decrease in hatchability after d 8 of storage time may be associated with the decrease in albumen index and Haugh unit. Hatchability values recorded in the present study were found to be lower than the values reported as 72.13% by Yannakopoulos (1992), similar to the values reported as 64 to 73% by Blake et al (1987), 66 to 71.5% by Bates et al (1987), 62.45 to 65.01% by Deeming and Wadland (2001), 62.03% by Çetin et al (1997), and greater than the value of 49.55% reported by Kırıkçı et al (2003b).…”

Individual Cryopreservation With Dimethyl Sulfoxide and Polyvinylpyrrolidone of Ejaculates and Pooled Semen of Three Avian Species

“…The eggs were incubated at 37.7 C for 7 days. After this period, fertility was confirmed by ovoscopic analysis [3,37]. For this test only, pooled semen was used.…”