Ms. I.A.M. (Inge) Reijrink: How does a chicken embryo survives prolonged egg storage?

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30 Jun 2010 13:30
Unit: Wageningen University
Location: Aula, building 362, Gen. Foulkesweg 1, Wageningen
Organisation: Wageningen University
Promotor: prof.dr.ir. B. Kemp (Adaptation Physiology)
Co Promotor: Dr.ir. H. van den Brand, Dr.ing. R. Meijerhof (Poultry Performance Plus, Voorst)

 After hatching eggs are collected from the laying nests, eggs are stored at the breeder farm, then transported to the hatchery and stored again before they are finally set in the incubator. The storage duration depends on the supply of hatching eggs, hatchery capacity, and the demand for day-old chicks. Especially in hatcheries that incubate eggs of grand parent stocks, storage durations beyond 7 days occur often. When the storage duration is beyond 7 days, hatchability and chick quality decline.

In the current thesis, it was shown that prestorage incubation and a slow preincubation warming profile can reduce embryonic mortality during the first 9 days of incubation. However, these treatments did not improve chick quality on the day of hatch. The positive effect of these treatments on hatchability are probably caused by changes in the stage of embryonic development, by changes in the total number of viable embryonic cells, or by both. Furthermore, changes in the micro-environment of the embryo (albumen quality), caused by changes in the gaseous environment during storage or early incubation, did not improve hatchability or chick quality.
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