Veterinary World (Jan 2012)

Frequency of different shell color and its effect on the fertility and hatchability in Black rock, Gramapriya and Vanaraja breeds of chicken

  • Abhay Kumar,
  • Keshab Das,
  • K. Mukherjee,
  • A. Bharti,
  • A.K. Singh

DOI
https://doi.org/10.5455/vetworld.2012.594-598
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 5, no. 10.000
pp. 594 – 598

Abstract

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Aim: A study was undertaken to assess the effect of shell color on the fertility and hatchability in three different breeds of chicken viz, Black Rock, Gramapriya and Vanaraja maintained at Government Poultry Farm, Durg (Chhattisgarh). Materials and Methods: A total of 180 eggs from each breed (Black rock, Gramapriya and Vanaraja) were studied in each trial and total three trials were conducted. All the eggs were individually marked. Eggs were divided into Brown, Light Brown and Creamy White. Eggs were candled twice during incubation i.e. on 7th and 18th days. Fertility percent was calculated by number of fertile eggs divided by total numbers of eggs set for incubation multiplied by 100. Likewise hatchability was calculated on TES (total egg set basis) and FES (fertile egg set basis) by the formulae Data were analyzed by chi-square test Results: The findings shown that the overall average for shell color among the three breeds, brown shell color (46.98%) was found to be most frequent as compare to light brown (43.02%) and creamy white (10.00%) colors, respectively. The fertility percentage among three different classes of shell color of eggs irrespective of breeds or batches highest pooled mean was in brown shell color (90.80%) followed by light brown (85.22%) and creamy white (83.33%). Whereas, on total egg set (TES) basis the hatchability percentage irrespective of breeds or hatches were 73.72 for brown, 67.00 for light brown and 52.47 for creamy white shell colored eggs, respectively and the pooled hatchability on fertile egg set (FES) basis, percentage followed same trend as in the case of hatchability on TES and brown shelled eggs group had higher hatchability rate with 81.19 percent followed by light brown (78.62%) and creamy white (62.96%), respectively. Conclusion: It is concluded that dark colored eggs had higher fertility rate and also hatched at higher rate than did light colored eggs. [Vet World 2012; 5(10.000): 594-598]

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