Effect of egg storage duration and egg turning during storage on egg quality and hatching of broiler hatching eggs.

In commercial hatcheries, it is common to store eggs before incubation. One practice to improve hatchability consists in egg turning during this storage. This work aims to highlight the effects of turning on the physicochemical aspects of eggs and, consequently, how this turning can influence the hatching of chicks. An experiment was conducted to evaluate the effects of storage duration and egg turning during storage on egg quality, hatchability, and residual analysis. A total of 7 500 hatching eggs were collected from a 55-week-old commercial Cobb500 breeder flock and storage according to the treatments. The experiment was completely randomized in a 3×2 factorial design with three storage periods (4, 8, and 12 days) and egg turning (180° turn of eggs once a day) or no turning during storage, totaling six treatments. Regardless of turning, eggs stored for 4 days weighed more than turned eggs stored for 8 and 12 days, which were similar (P < 0.05). Non-turned eggs experienced an increase in relative shell weight with increased storage duration, and non-turned eggs stored for 4 and 8 days differed from non-turned eggs stored for 12 days (P < 0.05). Albumen pH of turned eggs stored for 4 and 8 days was lower than that of non-turned eggs stored for the same durations (P < 0.05). Albumen pH of turned eggs increased as storage duration increased (P < 0.05). Egg turning increased hatching by 2.02% over that of non-turning (P < 0.05). Eggs stored for 12 days, irrespective of turning, had higher late embryonic mortality (P < 0.05) compared to the other treatments. It was concluded that turning eggs during pre-incubation storage was adequate to improve hatchability of fertile eggs. Storing fertile eggs for 12 days is harmful to egg quality and increases embryo mortality even if eggs were turned.

An evaluation of alternative methods for sanitizing hatching eggs.

Different sanitization methods were evaluated as alternatives to formaldehyde fumigation for the reduction of eggshell and yolk sac microbiological counts, improvement of eggshell quality, incubation parameters, and day-old chick quality. A total of 10,080 hatching eggs were collected from a 70-wk-old commercial broiler breeder flock and distributed in a completely randomized block design with seven treatments: fumigation with paraformaldehyde (5.03 g/m3/30 min), fumigation with ozone (5-15 ppm/30 min), ultraviolet light-C irradiation (8.09 mW/cm2; 120 s; UV-C), hydrogen peroxide spraying (3%; 0.69 mL/egg), peracetic acid spraying (0.3%; 0.69 mL/egg; PAA), water spraying (0.69 mL/egg; water control), and without disinfection (dry control-DC). Spraying eggs with PAA and UV-C significantly reduced aerobic bacteria plate counts compared to the DC group. In addition, eggs disinfected with PAA had lower Enterobacteriaceae counts than the DC and water control groups. Eggshell quality, incubation parameters, and microbiological counts for yolk sac did not differ (P > 0.05) among treatments. This study demonstrated the potential for the application of PAA and UV-C for eggshell disinfection instead of formaldehyde; however, an electronic microscopic evaluation of the eggshell is necessary to determine if these methods cause any damage to the cuticle.

Digestible methionine+cysteine in the diet of commercial layers and its influence on the performance, quality, and amino acid profile of eggs and economic evaluation.

This work aimed at evaluating the effects of 4 digestible Met+Cys levels on the diet of commercial layers and their influence on the productive performance, quality, and amino acid profile of eggs and economic viability of the activity. A total of 576 white Lohmann LSL-Lite layers was distributed into 6 replicates of 24 birds for each diet. The experimental design was completely randomized, with 4 treatments defined by levels evaluated in the feed (0.465, 0.540, 0.581, and 0.647%). The productive performance was measured for 30 weeks. The quality (34 and 50 wk old) and the amino acid profile of eggs (43 wk old) also were evaluated. A linear positive response was observed at higher Met+Cys levels for feed intake, number of eggs per housed bird, and digestible Met+Cys intake. Egg production, egg weight, egg mass, feed efficiency, and weight gain had their optimal values determined by the quadratic regression model at 0.638, 0.654, 0.647, 0.644, and 0.613% digestible Met+Cys, respectively. In the 34th wk, eggshell thickness decreased linearly at higher Met+Cys levels. In the 50th week, the optimal levels detected for eggshell thickness and percentage were 0.571 and 0.570% digestible Met+Cys, respectively. The percentages of proteins, branched-chain amino acids (leucine, isoleucine, and valine), histidine, and proline in eggs (albumen+yolk) showed a linear negative response in function of higher Met+Cys levels. Higher digestible Met+Cys levels (>0.630%) led to a good performance of layers, while lower Met+Cys levels improved the eggshell quality of layers in peak production. Optimal Met+Cys levels may change according to the price of the synthetic amino acid.

Efeito da classificação dos ovos sobre a uniformidade, o desempenho e o rendimento de abate de frangos de corte / Effect of egg classification prior to setting on broiler chicken uniformity, performance and meat yields

Avaliou-se a influência da classificação dos ovos no incubatório sobre a uniformidade, o desempenho e o rendimento de abate dos frangos de corte, utilizando-se 140 machos e 140 fêmeas nascidos de cada um dos seguintes tratamentos: A - ovos com pesos entre 66 e 72g, 33,3 por cento deles originados de matrizes com diferentes idades; B - ovos com pesos entre 58 e 65g, 33,3 por cento deles originados de matrizes com diferentes idades; C - ovos com pesos entre 52 e 57g, 33,3 por cento deles originados de matrizes com diferentes idades; D - ovos com pesos entre 52 e 72g, produzidos por matrizes com 31 semanas; E - ovos com pesos entre 52 e 72g, produzidos por matrizes com 38 semanas; e F - ovos com pesos entre 52 e 72g, produzidos por matrizes com 43 semanas. O delineamento experimental foi inteiramente ao acaso, em esquema fatorial 6 x 2 (seis categorias de peso dos ovos x dois sexos), com quatro repetições de 35 aves. O período de criação dos frangos foi de um a 44 dias de idade, e o abate foi feito aos 45 dias. A classificação dos ovos nos tratamentos A, B e C, visando limitar as categorias de peso dos ovos, não foi eficaz para manter a melhor uniformidade dos frangos com 44 dias de idade. O peso do frango aos 44 dias está positivamente correlacionado ao peso do pinto aos sete dias, exceto em frangos provenientes do tratamento D. O desempenho dos frangos e o rendimento de abate não foram influenciados pela classificação dos ovos no incubatório.

The effect of egg classification on uniformity, performance, and meat yield of broiler chicks was evaluated using 140 males and 140 females hatched from one of each of the following treatments: A - eggs weighting from 66 to 72g, 33,3 percent of them produced by broiler breeders of different ages; B - eggs weighting from 58 to 65g, 33,3 percent of them produced by broiler breeders of different ages; C - eggs weighting from 52 to 57g, 33,3 percent of them produced by broiler breeders of different ages; D - eggs from 31-wk-old broiler breeders, weighting from 52 to 72g; E - eggs from 38-wk-old broiler breeders, weighting from 52 to 72g; and F - eggs from 43-wk-old broiler breeders, weighting from 52 to 72g. It was used a completely randomized design, in a 6x2 factorial (six categories of egg classification x two genders) with four replicates of 35 bird each. The chicks were raised from one to 44-day-old and slaughtered at 45-day-old. Sorting eggs by weight prior to incubation was not efficient to keep the better broiler chickens uniformity until they were 44-day-old. A significant and positive relationship between 7-day-old chick weight and broiler weight at slaughtering age was observed, except in chicks from treatment D. Broiler performance and meat yield were not affected by egg classification.