Effects of floor and nest eggs on hatchability and chick quality parameters in broiler breeders.

The quantitative and qualitative parameters of eggs and day old chicks are determined by broiler breeders. Floor and nest eggs are used by commercial hatcheries for incubation. This study was carried out to evaluate the hatchability and chick quality parameters between floor and nest eggs in broiler breeders. The experiment was conducted at the hatchery in a Complete Randomized Design (CRD) with two treatments. Five replicates were maintained for each treatment and each replicate consisted of 90 eggs. Nine hundred eggs from MX male x Cobb 500 female (35-40 weeks of age) were collected from the breeder farm. Eggs were incubated at Petersime commercial multi-stage (MS) incubator. Egg quality parameters; initial egg weight and shape index were measured just before the setter period. Egg weight reduction was calculated during incubation period. Live chicks and hatch residues were collected separately at the end of incubation period. Chick quality parameters such as chick weight, chick length and pasgar score were measured. Breakout test was conducted with hatch residues. Data was statistically analyzed using two sample t-test in SAS. Results revealed that there was a significant difference (P<0.05) on hatchability between two types of eggs. Nest eggs reported the highest hatchability (90.0%) compared to floor eggs. Initial egg weight, egg shape index, moisture loss, hatch of fertile, chick weight, chick length, chick yield and pasgar score did not show any significant difference (P>0.05) between two types of eggs. Breakout analysis showed that higher embryo mortality and contamination occurred in floor eggs compared to nest eggs. In conclusion, hatchability of nest eggs is better than those of floor eggs. However, floor eggs should be kept separately in the commercial hatcheries to minimize the contamination.