A STUDY OF INCUBATION PARAMETERS IN SIX BREEDS OF LOCAL CHICKENS

Tóm tắt

In this study, we investigated the differences of incubation parameters traits in six breeds of Taiwanese chickens: Hua-Tung (HT), Hsin-Yi (HY), Ju-Chi (JC), Shek-Ki (SK), Nagoya (NG) and Quemoy (KM) breeds. The incubation traits, including loss of egg weight during storage (storeloss), 18 days in the setter (inculoss), 21 days of incubation (hatchloss), time to hatch, and hatchability were tested for the effect of breed, egg weight and storage period. The results showed that eggs weight, chick weight, and storeloss (%) in Generation 1 were higher than Generation 2, whereas, inculoss (%), hatchloss (%), and hatchability in Generation 2 were higher than Generation 1. The highest inculoss (%) and hatchloss (%) were found in Quemoy, while the lowest was Shek-Ki. The longest hatchtime was found in Quemoy and the shortest was Ju-Chi. The highest hatchability was found in Hua-Tung breed, while the lowest was Shek-Ki breed. Heritabilities estimated from regression of Generation 2 to Generation 1 were very high for egg weight and hatchtime while storeloss was nil. Furthermore, long egg storage time increases egg weight loss and incubation duration (hatch time), but reduces hatchability. When eggs were stored for one more day, egg weight loss increased 0.03 % during storage period, 0.03% during 18 days in the setter, and 0.07% for entire incubation period, increased the hatch time by 0.73 hr, but reduced hatchability by about 0.03%.