Abstract: Gas concentrations during storage do not affect hatchability and chick quality

Presented On The 4th Workshop On Fundamental Physiology And Perinatal Development In Poultry In Bratislava, September 2009, By Inge Reijrink

I.A.M. Reijrink*, L.A.G. van Duijvendijk‡, R. Meijerhof*, B. Kemp‡, H. van den Brand‡ *HatchTech Incubation Technology, Gildetrom 25, 3905 TB Veenendaal, the Netherlands; ‡ Wageningen University, Adaptation Physiology Group, 6700 AH Wageningen, the Netherlands.

Egg storage longer than 7 d is associated with a delay in hatch time, and a decline in hatchability and chick quality. During egg storage, embryo viability declines due to an increase in cell death. Albumen quality, which affects the micro environment of the embryo, declines as well due to a rise in albumen pH and a decline in albumen viscosity. Whether the change in albumen quality affects embryo viability is unknown. An experiment was conducted to investigate the effect of high CO2 concentrations or high N2 concentration during storage on albumen quality, hatchability and chick quality. Download the entire article via the button below.