The influence of hairline crack eggs on hatchery parameters and performance of chicks

Abstract

The purpose of study was to evaluate the influence of hairline crack eggs on hatchery parameters and later life of chicks. The study was conducted from October to December 2018 at Chakri hatchery Salman Poultry Pvt. Ltd Pakistan to evaluate the outcomes of hairline crack eggs. The shell of the eggs is essential in providing the shape of an egg and ensuring the safe packaging. The defects like breakage of this packaging increase the risk of microbial contamination. In this experiment, the crack eggs like hairline crack eggs were detected by Sanovo STAALKAT Alpha 125 Machine number JB 11786. The eggs were collected from eighteen different breeder farms. Each group contained (n=50,000) eggs. The hairline crack eggs were compared with normal eggs for hatchability, candling, putrification/blasting and dead in shell. Significant difference was found for hatchability, candling, blasting/putrification and dead in the shell for normal and hairline crack eggs. The highest hatchability (49.07±0.51) and lowest candling (9.98±0.064) for hairline crack eggs were found for AP27 flock due to young age and good quality eggshell. The lowest hatchability was found for SP117 flock which was the oldest flock having thin egg shells. The blasting/putrification and dead in the shell were significantly higher for hairline crack eggs as compared to normal eggs of same flocks. The lowest blasting was found for AP27 flock. On a simple hatch debris analysis, the highest mortality, infertile, contaminated eggs were for first and third weeks. The higher mortality were found for hairline crack eggs as compared to the normal eggs for SSF5 flock. The water loss, chick yield and culling chicks percentage were also significantly better for normal eggs compared to hairline crack eggs. The hairline crack eggs of young flocks were better than old flocks due to a better quality of eggs shell. The chicks from normal eggs were also significantly better than chicks from hairline crack eggs in terms of mortality, feed intake, weight gain and FCR. The hairline crack eggs are the source of contamination. Present study recommended that hairline crack eggs do not use for incubation.