Effect of the quails productive type on the incubation characteristics of domestic quail eggs (Coturnix japonica domestica)

Hristo Lukanov, Ivelina Pavlova and Atanas Genchev

Abstract: Various factors can affect the hatchability of quail eggs, perhaps the least studied of these is the productive type. The objective of this research was to investigate the incubation characteristics of domestic quail eggs produced from different productive types of quails. Within two days, 460 breeding eggs from three genotypes of quails were collected at 184 days of age. The first breeding group of quails is a typical representative of the European egg laying type (group A), the second group is of the heavy dual-purpose type (meat-egg-laying type, group GG), and the third is a typical meat-producing (group WG). Before loading, the eggs were individually weighed and incubated under the standard incubation parameters for that species, by using industrial hatchery equipment. The following signs were monitored: fertility, embryonic mortality, hatchability from the fertilized eggs, hatchability from the set eggs, and weight at one day of age. The average hatching eggs weight was directly related to the productive type (P<0.001). The highest weight loss of incubated eggs was reported in Group A - 11.43±0.18% (P<0.001), and significantly lower values were observed in the GG and WG groups - 9.24±0.11% and 9.46±0.05%, respectively. Egg fertilization ranged from 93.71% in the GG group to 95.95% in the WG group. Embryonic mortality to transfer was from 4.17% in group A to 5.41% in group WG. The highest hatchability of loaded eggs was reported in the WG group of 79.95% and the lowest in the GG group of 75.43%. The average relative weight of hatched quails was between 67.51±0.12% in group WG and 68.26±0.22% in group A (P<0.005). From the results of this research could be concluded that the productive type of domestic quails has no significant influence on the main incubation characteristics.

Keywords: egg fertility; embryonic mortality; hatchability; Japanese quail; weight at one-day of age

Date published: 2020-12-15