Effect of Storage Time on Hatchability of Guinea Fowl Eggs

Journal <strong>of</strong> Animal Science Advances
<strong>Effect</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Storage</strong> <strong>Time</strong> on Hatchability <strong>of</strong> Guinea Fowl Eggs
Moreki J. C. and Ditshupo T.
J Anim Sci Adv 2012, 2(7): 631-636
Online version is available on: www.grjournals.com

ISSN: 2251-7219
MOREKI AND DITSHUPO
<strong>Effect</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Storage</strong> <strong>Time</strong> on Hatchability <strong>of</strong> Guinea
Fowl Eggs
Original Article
Moreki J. C. and Ditshupo T.
Department <strong>of</strong> Animal Science and Production, Botswana College <strong>of</strong> Agriculture, Private Bag 0027, Gaborone, Botswana
Abstract
A study was conducted to determine the effects <strong>of</strong> length <strong>of</strong> storage time on hatchability <strong>of</strong> guinea fowl
eggs. A total <strong>of</strong> 125 eggs were obtained from the ongoing guinea fowl project and used in this study. Eggs were
divided into five batches with each batch comprising 25 eggs. Following collection, all eggs were individually
weighed using electronic scale and stored in a cool room at 20 o C for different storage times <strong>of</strong> 0, 4, 7, 10 and
14 days. Prior to setting, eggs were weighed again and thereafter set in the incubator at 37 o C and 70% relative
humidity. Data from five batches <strong>of</strong> eggs were analyzed using General Linear Model (GLM) <strong>of</strong> Statistical
Analysis S<strong>of</strong>tware (version 9.2) to determine the effect <strong>of</strong> storage time on hatchability <strong>of</strong> guinea fowl eggs. A
significant difference in hatchability among different batches <strong>of</strong> eggs was found. The results <strong>of</strong> the present
study showed that storage time significantly (P

Introduction
Guinea fowl breeders produce thicker shelled
eggs in comparison to that <strong>of</strong> a regular chicken. An
egg’s shell makes up 15% <strong>of</strong> the total weight <strong>of</strong> the
egg which is 9% <strong>of</strong> that <strong>of</strong> a regular chicken
(Yildirim, 2012). Hatching eggs are not usually
incubated immediately after lay but are stored at
both hatcheries and breeder farms, as the latter are
usually located a considerable distance from the
hatchery (Schmidt et al., 2009). When hatching
eggs have accumulated, they are stored at the
hatchery until sufficient incubator space is
available. Furthermore, if the number <strong>of</strong> eggs is
limited they may be stored longer in the hatchery
until there are enough to fill large incubator racks.
Therefore, egg handling prior to incubation is <strong>of</strong>
utmost importance.
In order to limit the development <strong>of</strong> the
embryo, hatching eggs should be stored at 13 to
18.3 °C at 75% relative humidity (Whitehead et al.,
2002), 13 to 18 °C (Fasenko, 2008) and 15 to 18 o C
with a relative humidity <strong>of</strong> about 75% (Hamre,
2008). According to Hamre (2008), chicken eggs
should be incubated within 7 to 10 days after they
are laid as hatchability declines rapidly when
incubation is postponed for more than 10 days. For
Carole (2009), the optimum storage time for guinea
fowl eggs is seven days. Egg storage for over seven
days increases embryonic death and chick poultry
quality. Whitehead et al. (2002) stated that the
period which eggs are stored before hatching affects
the incubation success. Prolonged storage <strong>of</strong> eggs <strong>of</strong>
poultry species decreases egg quality, increases
embryonic mortality, and extend incubation time.
The authors recommended that eggs should be
stored for not longer than seven days.
As guinea fowl farming is in its infancy in
Botswana, information on storage <strong>of</strong> guinea fowl
eggs prior to incubation is limited. Therefore, a
study was conducted to investigate the effect <strong>of</strong> egg
storage time on hatchability <strong>of</strong> guinea fowl eggs.
Material and Methods
Bird management and egg collection
Guinea fowl (males and females) were housed
in one pen and fed layers mash. Feed and water
EFFECT OF STORAGE TIME ON HATCHABILITY OF …
were given ad libitum (Szczerbińska et al., 2004). A
total <strong>of</strong> 125 eggs were obtained from Botswana
College <strong>of</strong> Agriculture guinea fowl unit and
subjected to five storage periods, i.e.; 0, 4, 7, 10 and
14 days before incubation. Data collection took 15
days to complete i.e.; 1 to 15 February 2012. The
parameters studied were hatchability, mortality,
deformity, peeps (live) and clears.
Egg collection
Eggs were collected in the morning at 1000 hr.
in containers which were cushioned to avoid
shaking <strong>of</strong> the eggs (Hassan et al., 2005). Eggs were
divided into 5 batches with each batch having 25
eggs. Following lay, eggs were individually
weighed with a precision scale (0.01 g precision)
(Hassan et al., 2005; Romao et al. 2008). Dirty eggs
were discarded during egg collection. Each egg was
individually marked with a unique identifier
(pencil) before storage.
Egg management and incubation
Prior to setting, eggs were stored for 0, 4, 7, 10
and 14 days with the broad end up in the cool room
at 20 o C. All eggs were individually weighed and
set in the incubator at 37 o C and relative humidity <strong>of</strong>
70 % (Lourens et al., 2005; Hassan et al., 2005).
Each batch <strong>of</strong> eggs was separated from each other
so that there was no mixing <strong>of</strong> eggs <strong>of</strong> different
batches in the incubator. Unhatched eggs were
broken and dead in shells (DIS), peeps, and clear
(infertile eggs) recorded. Weak and leg deformed
keets were also recorded. Percentage mortality <strong>of</strong>
keets for each batch was calculated as total dead
keets divided by total keets hatched and then
multiplied by 100 (Nwagu, 1997). Hatchability was
calculated as total eggs hatched divided by total
eggs set and then multiplied by 100.
Statistical Analysis
General Lineal Model (GLM) <strong>of</strong> SAS (version
9.2) (SAS Institute, 2000-2008) was used to
determine the effects <strong>of</strong> storage time on hatchability
<strong>of</strong> guinea fowl eggs. Treatment means were
separated using Tukey studentised range (HSD)
test.
Results and Discussion
632 J. Anim. Sci. Adv., 2012, 2(7):631-636

MOREKI AND DITSHUPO
Hatchability
The effect <strong>of</strong> storage time on hatchability <strong>of</strong>
guinea fowl eggs is illustrated in Fig. 1. As shown
in Fig. 1, hatchability declined with increased
storage time. Hatchability decreased with increased
storage time from 0 to 14 days. This result is
consistent with Schmidt et al. (2009) who reported
that storing eggs from 5 to 10 days reduces
hatchability. Also, Petek and Dikmen (2006),
Romao et al. (2008) and Schmidt et al. (2009)
reported that long storage <strong>of</strong> eggs reduces
hatchability, increases incubation time and
decreases egg weight and egg fertility. Similarly,
Demirel and Kırıkçı (2009) found a negative effect
<strong>of</strong> storage time on hatchability <strong>of</strong> pheasant eggs. On
the contrary, Cağlayan et al. (2009) found that long
storage periods do not have negative effects on
hatchability <strong>of</strong> partridge eggs.
Fig. 1: The effect <strong>of</strong> storage time on hatchability <strong>of</strong> guinea fowl eggs.
According to Fig. 1, the number <strong>of</strong> DIS and
clears increased with storage time. The result on
DIS is in agreement with Romao et al. (2008) who
found that increased storage time increases embryo
mortality rate during storage and incubation. In this
study, no embryo mortality was observed from 0 to
4 days indicating that embryo development was not
affected by storage time. There was more DIS from
10 to 14 days storage periods compared to other
storage periods. No peeps were observed from 0 to
4 days <strong>of</strong> egg storage. However, peeps increased
from 4 to 7 days storage time and thereafter
declined. The current results are also consistent with
Petek and Dikmen (2006) and Romao et al. (2008)
who found that long storage time prior to incubation
decreased hatchability.
Length <strong>of</strong> incubation
The effect <strong>of</strong> storage time on incubation time is
shown in Table 1. According to Table 1, incubation
time increased with length <strong>of</strong> storage time from 0 to
14 days. Similar results were found by Tona et al.
(2003) who suggested that longer storage prolonged
duration <strong>of</strong> incubation.
As shown in Table 1, over two thirds (67.21%)
<strong>of</strong> the keets that hatched came from eggs that were
stored for 0 and 4 days. It is apparent that 85.25%
<strong>of</strong> keets were hatched between 25 and 27 days <strong>of</strong>
incubation. However, days 26 and 27 recorded the
highest number (60.66%) <strong>of</strong> keets hatched. As
shown in Table 1, storage time contributed to a
decline in hatchability <strong>of</strong> guinea fowl eggs. These
findings are in agreement with Whitehead et al.
(2002) who reported that prolonged storage <strong>of</strong> eggs
<strong>of</strong> poultry species decreases egg quality, increases
embryonic mortality, and extends incubation time.
633 J. Anim. Sci. Adv., 2012, 2(7):631-636

EFFECT OF STORAGE TIME ON HATCHABILITY OF …
In the present study, zero storage time contributed
more keets (36.07%) than other storage periods.
The study also demonstrated that increased
storage time increased length <strong>of</strong> incubation.
Hatchability for 0, 4, 7, 10 and 14 days storage
times was 88%, 76%, 40%, 36%, and 4%
respectively. According to Table 1, incubation
period ranged from 25 to 29 days. These results are
inconsistent with Majewska (2001) who indicated
that the normal incubation period for guinea fowl
eggs ranges from 26 to 28 days.
Egg weight
Data on initial egg weight, egg weight at set
time, egg weight at transfer, egg weight from set to
transfer and egg weight loss percentage from set to
transfer are presented in Table 2. As shown in Table
2, initial egg weight for 0 and 4 days <strong>of</strong> storage
time, was significantly (P0.05). According to
Table 2, initial egg weight increased with storage
time. The present results are consistent with
Swiatkiewicz et al. (2010) and Bannette et al.
(2004) who found that older birds produce larger
eggs than young ones. In disagreement with current
results, Tebesi et al. (2012) in Botswana reported
that storage time had no effect on egg weight <strong>of</strong>
guinea fowl.
Table 1: .<strong>Effect</strong> <strong>of</strong> storage time on incubation process
Spread <strong>of</strong> incubation
<strong>Storage</strong> time (days)
Day 25 Day 26 Day 27 Day 28 Total
0 15 (60) 5 (20) 2 (8) 0 (0) 22(36.07)
4 0 (0) 12 (48) 6 (24) 1(4) 19(31.15)
7 0 (0) 1 (4) 4 (16) 5 (20) 10(16.39)
10 0 (0) 0 (0) 6 (24) 3 (12) 9(14.75)
14 0 (0) 0 (0) 1 (4) 0 (0) 1(1.64)
Total 15(24.59) 18(29.51) 19(31.15) 9(14.75) 61(100)
*Values in brackets are percentages
Table 2: <strong>Effect</strong> <strong>of</strong> storage time on egg weight parameters
Egg storage Egg weight Egg Egg weight Egg weight Significant SEM
(days) initial weight set transfer loss (%)
0 42.661 b 42.661 b 33.150 b 22.257 a * ±9.511
4 45.797 a 45.652 a 38.233 a 16.342 c * ±7.418
7 44.698 ab 43.667 ab 35.842 ab 18.132 bc ** ±7.825
10 43.855 ab 42.500 b 34.024 b 20.291 ab ** ±8.476
14 43.585 ab 41.686 b 34.221 b 17.936 bc ** ±7.465
SEM = Standard error <strong>of</strong> mean.
a-c within columns, values with different superscripts differ significantly (**P< 0.05;*P 0.05). On the other hand, egg
weight at transfer for 0, 4 and 7 days <strong>of</strong> storage time
was significantly (P

MOREKI AND DITSHUPO
(Table 2). Higher (22.26%) and lower (17.94%) egg
weight losses were obtained for eggs stored for 0
and 14 days, respectively. No reason could be given
for this finding as it was expected that eggs weight
would decline with lengthened storage. The finding
on egg weight loss in this study is consistent with
Tilki and Saatchi (2004) who reported increased
egg weight loss with increased storage time. Similar
results were reported by Petek and Dikmen (2006)
in broiler breeder eggs. The authors stated that
exposure <strong>of</strong> eggs to long time storage and heat
treatment would increase the opportunity for water
vapour to escape from the egg.
Conclusion
This study indicated that for optimum
hatchability guinea fowl eggs can be stored for no
more than four days prior to incubation. Storing
eggs for more than seven days increased incubation
time and decreased hatchability. The study also
showed that egg weight decreased (P

Tona K, Bamelis F, Bruggeman V, Moraes BMV, Onagbesan
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82: 736-741.
Whitehead CC, Maxwell MH, Pearson RA, Herron KM
(2002). Influence <strong>of</strong> egg storage on hatchability,
embryonic development and vitamin status in hatching
broiler chicks. Braz. J. Poult. Sci., 26(2): 221-228.
Yildirim IJ (2012). Nutrition <strong>of</strong> guinea fowl breeders: a
Review. J. Anim. Sci. Adv., 2(2): 188-193.
EFFECT OF STORAGE TIME ON HATCHABILITY OF …
636 J. Anim. Sci. Adv., 2012, 2(7):631-636