Determine the Effect of Egg Mass and Egg Weight Groups on Fertilization, Loss of Weight during the Incubation Period, Hatchability, and Gosling Quality

Abstract

The main purpose of the study was to determine the effect of egg mass and egg weight groups (group I eggs under 160 g, group II eggs160 g to 180 g and group III eggs over 180 g) on incubation results, loss of egg weight (moist) during incubation, gosling hatchability, and the relative share of the gosling in the egg mass. A well fertilized egg is an embryo “package” with all the necessary nutrients that facilitate its development until it is hatched and for a few days after hatching. The results of poultry offspring production, i.e., poultry embryo development, depend during its embryonic development, – apart from its genetic basis, – on several non-genetic factors. Eggs with mass between 160 g and 180 g (group II) demonstrated the highest fertilization rate (91.28%) and the highest hatchability out of the number of incubated eggs (83.14%), while the eggs from the group I (lighter than 160 g) showed the highest number of gosling hatchability out of the number of fertilized eggs (91.08%). The lowest embryo mortality was that of group I (5.17% and 6.06%), while the highest is reported for group III (14.29% and 16.67%). The lowest relative loss of egg mass (moist) by day 25 of the incubation period was established for the group I eggs (10.98%), and the highest for the group III (11.71%), with a statistically significant (P<0.01) difference of -0.73 %. Other differences were not statistically significant (P>0.05). The gosling percentage in the egg mass was significantly higher (P<0.001) in the group III of incubated eggs (67.81%) than in group II (66.61%) and group I (65.24%). The relative gosling percentage according to the egg mass grew with the increase of the egg mass, which to a certain extent agreed with our findings, except that these authors reported a considerably lower gosling percentage.