Effect of Egg Storage Temperature and Storage Period Pre-incubation on Hatchability of Eggs in Three Varieties of Japanese Quail

Abstract

Abstract:Background: There are many factors affecting successes of quail production system , one of important factor is provide sufficient number of egg for needs of hatcheries to produce chicks . This study was conducted in poultry farm of Animal Resources -College of Agriculture -University of Diyala -Iraq, to determine suitable conditions for storage of Japanese quail eggs belong to three varieties of Japanese quails( White , Black and brown plumage color ). Materials and Methods: Eggs from three varieties allocated in two groups represented two storage temperatures 7 C° and 20 C° (average room temperature ) , and each temperature group divided into four sub-groups represented storage periods length 3 , 7 , 10 and 14 days , thus the total number of egg groups were 16 groups. The experiment performed in factorial experiment 3 × 2 × 4 for three factors included variety, storage temperature and storage period , conducted in Randomized Completely Blocks Design with three replicates. The experimental flock consist of 450 birds belong to three varieties , the eggs collected daily and stored according to these various treatments before entered the incubator , and after hatching of eggs , the data recorded for hatchability and embryonic mortality percentages for treatments. Results: The results showed that the black variety quail has significant superiority in fertility (80.19 %) with compare to White and Brown varieties (69.07 and 68.03 % respectively). There were significant effect (P< 0.05) of storage period on hatchability, hence there were significantly decline in hatchability after storage period for 14 days (36.58 %), also there were significant interaction between varieties and storage periods. While there were no significant effect of storage temperature and other interactions on hatchability and embryonic mortality percentage.

Effects of Long-Term Storage on Hatchability and Incubation Length of Game Farmed Quail Eggs

“…This difference in fertility could be due to differences in the selection among breeding flocks [ 43 ]. The true fertility recorded by us for game quail was within the range of values described for domestic Japanese quail (68–97%; [ 29 , 31 , 32 , 44 ]). The good fertility of eggs from game quails in this trial might be due to the good condition of the breeding flock in the farm where the eggs were gathered.…”

“…To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to investigate the effects of the long-term storage of game quail hatching eggs on incubation performance. In fact, the effects of storing European quail hatching eggs under game farming conditions have only been previously investigated for short storage periods of one week [ 33 ], whereas in Japanese quail, the effects of storing eggs up to 14–15 days have been extensively investigated [ 26 , 28 , 29 , 30 , 31 , 32 ]; only one study has tested egg storage up to 28 days before incubation in this species [ 21 ].…”

“…This is a relevant finding of this research since, to date, the effects of the long-term storage of hatching quail eggs have never been investigated. In fact, it has only been reported that hatchability is reduced by extending the storage time to 7 days in European quail eggs [ 33 ] and between 7 and 14 days in Japanese quail eggs [ 21 , 25 , 26 , 27 , 28 , 29 , 30 , 31 , 32 ]. Our finding agrees with previous reports on the long-term storage of chukar partridge [ 21 ] and red-legged partridge eggs [ 6 ], which also maintain high hatchability when stored for up to 28 days before incubation.…”

“…A study [ 22 ] has shown that hatchability of fertile eggs can be kept for seven weeks in rock partridge ( Alectoris graeca ). In Japanese quail, it has been reported that hatching eggs store well up to 7 days [ 23 , 24 ], while storing them beyond 7 days [ 25 , 26 , 27 ], 8 days [ 28 , 29 ], 10 days [ 30 ], 12 days [ 31 ], or 14 days [ 21 , 32 ], according to the experimental conditions, impairs their hatchability. Only one study has been found in the literature that investigates the effect of the storage time of European quail eggs under game farming conditions, which reports a reduction in the hatching rate of the eggs set between days 4 and 7 of storage [ 33 ].…”

Genetic Selection for Body Weight in Japanese Quail (Coturnix coturnix japonica) Under Different Nutritional Environments

“…The hatching eggs were collected for each line during three days period, and transferred to the hatchery (Hassan and Abd -Alsattar, 2015), and the procedure was replicated for three hatches. The hatched chicks were raised until 14 weeks of age and the measurements were recorded for meat and egg production characteristics.…”