Vol. 9, Issue 5, Part L (2024)

Author(s): N Kowsalya and Dr. M Anandhi

Abstract: The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect short periods of incubation during egg storage (SPIDES) with or without turning on long-term storage on chick quality parameters of long stored hatching eggs. A total of 750 broiler hatching eggs from 33.5 weeks old parent stock were divided into five groups: T₁ (Control without SPIDES), T₂ (3 SPIDES without turning), T₃ (3 SPIDES and 3 turning during each SPIDES), T₄ (4 SPIDES without turning) and T₅ (4 SPIDES and 3 turning during each SPIDES). Eggs were stored at 17 °C with 75% relative humidity and SPIDES treated eggs were periodically exposed to 37.7 °C for 3 hours at 5 days interval. All eggs were stored for 21 days and incubated at 22^nd day. The SPIDES with turning treatment group eggs were turned by 45º angle on either side of an hourly interval. The results showed significant differences between treatment groups in chick weight, chick yield, chick length, chick width and pasgar score. The T₅ treatment group had significantly (p<0.01) highest chick quality, while other SPIDES treatment groups also demonstrated higher chick quality than control group. SPIDES effectively mitigates the negative impacts of prolonged storage and suggesting its potential for improving chick quality of commercial broiler hatching eggs. In conclusion, SPIDES treatment, particularly with 4 SPIDES at every 5 day intervals during a 21 days storage period with 3 turning during each SPIDES, enhanced over all chick quality parameters.