International Journal of Agriculture and Food Security Vol. 2 (1), pp. 021-025, February, 2015. © Advanced Scholars Journals

Full Length Research Paper

The effect of egg storage containers and duration of storage on the hatchability of eggs and chick quality

Dereje Duressa¹, Alemu Yami² and Mohamad Yousuf ³

² US AID Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

¹, ³ Haramaya University, P.O. Box 138 Dire Dawa Ethiopia.

E-mail: [email protected]

Accepted 03, April 2014

Abstract 

Two experiments were conducted at Alemaya University poultry farm to evaluate the effect of the five egg storage containers and durations identified through a preliminary survey used for egg storage on the hatchability of egg and chick quality. The hatchability of total eggs was significantly affected by the interaction of storage containers and durations in both experiments.  Except the eggs stored in Teff grain the hatchability of eggs kept in other containers did not fall below 50 per cent in experiment I on 12 days of pre incubation storage. The hatchability of total eggs stored for the first 8 days did not show significant variation for all the containers. At the end of 20 days of pre-incubation storage, the hatchability of total eggs from all containers was below 20 per cent. Similar trend was also observed in the hatchability of fertile eggs during experiment I. The hatchability of fertile eggs kept in all containers was below 30 per cent at the 20 day of pre-incubation storage. During experiment II, clay pots and cartons showed better hatchability of fertile eggs for 16 days of pre incubation storage period . The hatchability of fertile eggs linearly declined with increasing storage period the rate of decline being highest beyond 16 days of storage (for both experiments). Little variation in the percentage of quality chicks was observed among the storage containers during experiment I. The percentage of quality chicks linearly declined with increasing pre-incubation storage period and variation was higher on the 16 days and beyond of storage time in both experiments. In both experiments, the percentage of quality chicks obtained from all containers did not significantly vary until the day 12 of pre-incubation storage. The results from this study leads to the conclusion that carton,  basket and clay pots in that order could be the best alternatives of containers investigated and 16 days of storage is most appropriate holding time for pre incubation storage during  either  dry  or wet seasons of the year for a good egg quality and hatchability results.

Key words: Hatchability/, egg storage period/, Traditional egg/ storage methods, Alemaya University, chicks quality.