Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
Turkish Journal of Agriculture - Food Science and Technology, cilt.9, sa.2, ss.362-367, 2021 (Hakemli Dergi)
The present study was planned to determine the effect of flock age on hatching results and chick
quality in Ross 308 broiler parents. For this purpose, the eggs of three different flock age (30, 47, and
59 weeks of age) were used. A total of 450 eggs (50 × 3 for each group), including 150 eggs from
each age group, were placed in the incubator as a coincidence. The number of alive chicks after
hatching was determined and these chicks were classified into three quality groups as low quality,
high quality, and discarded chicks. Non-hatched eggs were broken in order to control the fertility and
determine the embryonic deaths. At the end of the study, the effect of the flock age on fertility rate
(%), hatchability (%) and chick quality was found to be significant. However, the effect of flock age
on hatchablity of fertile eggs and early, mid, and late-period embryo deaths were found to be
insignificant. It was found that eggs obtained from the young breeders were higher in terms of fertility
rate and hatchability than eggs obtained from old breeders. The chicks obtained from young breeders'
eggs were determined as 33.60% high quality, 48.10% low quality, and 18.30% discarded chicks.
These rates were 32.70%, 43.40%, and 23.90% in chicks obtained from middle-aged breeders,
respectively, 56.10%, 36.40%, and 7.50% in chicks obtained from the old breeders. As a result, it was
determined that there was a decrease in the hatching results in parallel with the increase in breeding
age, but the chick quality increased.