Effect of Spraying Japanese Quail Eggs with Garlic Oil on Hatching Performance and Hatch Weight

Abstract

Garlic oil is a strong natural disinfectant. Previous studies documented the effectiveness of pre-incubation application of garlic oil on hatching efficiency. This study was conducted to evaluate the effect of spraying garlic oil solution before incubation and for the first 10 days of incubation on hatching performance of fertile Japanese quail eggs including; weight loss, hatchability, embryonic mortalities and hatch weight. A total of 2100 Japanese quail eggs were divided into three treatments (Each treatment represented with four replicates). T1 (control group); non-treated group, T2 group sprayed with distilled water and T3 group that sprayed with garlic oil solution (2%). The results showed that T3 group had the lowest egg weight loss percentage during different incubation stages as well as less early, intermediate and late mortalities. Furthermore, hatchability percentages of T3 remarkably exceeded than T1 and T2. Significant differences were observed for hatch weight among treatments (P<0.05) where, T3 group had the heaviest chick weight. We concluded that spraying garlic oil solution 2% as pre-incubation disinfectant and during first 10 days of eggs incubation could improve the hatchability, embryonic development and hatch weight of Japanese quail.