Egg production,fertility, hatchability and immune responses of some chicken strains under high ambient temperatures |
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Authors: | Ahmed Abdel-Kareem Abuoghaba Waheed Ezzat Ahmed Mohamed Rizk Ashraf Ahmed Qurtam Osama Abdullah El-Sayed |
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Affiliation: | 1. Poultry Production Department, Faculty of Agriculture, Sohag University, Sohag, Egypt;2. Poultry Breeding Res. Dep., Animal Prod. Res. Inst, Agric. Res. Center, Ministry of Agric, Giza, Egypt;3. Biology Department, College of Science, Imam Mohammad Ibn Saud Islamic University (IMSIU), Riyadh, Saudi Arabia |
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Abstract: | This experiment was designed to investigate and compare the egg production, fertility, hatchability and immune responses of some local developed Egyptian chicken strains under high ambient temperatures. A total of 108 (26 weeks old) laying hens of Matrouh, Silver Montazah, Mandarah and Inshas (9 hens × 3 replicates × 4 strains) were used to evaluate the impact of thermal stress (24-34ºC) during summer season (June, July and August) on egg production, fertility, hatchability and immune responses. The obtained results revealed that final body weight (FBW/g) and body weight change (BWC/g) among different chicken strains were not affected. The daily feed consumption (FC/g) and feed conversion ratio (FCR) for Silver Montazah and Inshas strains were significantly (p ≤ .05) higher than those of Matrouh and Mandarah strains. The mean egg production (EP/%) and egg mass (EM) for Silver Montazah and Inshas strains were significantly (p ≤ .05) higher than those of Matrouh and Mandarah strains. The highest percentages of hatchability of total eggs (HTE) and fertile eggs (HFE) were recorded in Inshas chickens, while the lowest value was recorded in Mandarah chickens. Also, the highest embryonic mortalities (p ≤ .05) and lowest chick weight at hatch (CWH/g) were recorded in Mandarah chickens compared with the other strains. The highest values for antibody titres against phytohemagglutinin-P (PHA-P) were recorded in Mandarah chickens, while the least values were recorded in Inshas chickens. |
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Keywords: | chicken strains egg production fertility hatchability immune responses |
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