Meeting embryonic requirements of broilers throughout incubation

Roos Molenaar*, Inge Reijrink*, Ron Meijerhof†, and Henry van den Brand‡

*HatchTech Incubation Technology B.V., P.O. Box 256, 3900 AG Veenendaal, the Netherlands; †Poultry Performance Plus, Kleine Enkweg 1, 7383 DB Voorst, the Netherlands; ‡Adaptation Physiology Group, Wageningen Institute of Animal Sciences, Wageningen University, P.O. Box 338, 6700 AH Wageningen, the Netherlands.

During incubation of chicken embryos, environmental conditions, such as temperature, relative humidity, and CO2 concentration, must be controlled to meet embryonic requirements that change during the different phases of embryonic development. In the current review, the effects of embryo temperature, egg weight loss, and CO2 concentration on hatchability, hatchling quality, and subsequent performance are discussed from an embryonic point of view.