Vol. 11, Issue 12 (2022)

Author(s):
B Vasanthi, R Richard Churchil, AV Omprakash, SMK Karthickeyan and B Samuel Masilamoni Ronald

Abstract:
Siruvidai chicken is one of indigenous chicken ecotype reared as a backyard poultry in Tamil Nadu state of India. The hens of this chicken are known for their broodiness instinct and mothering ability among the farmers. Hence a comparative evaluation was carried out to assess the fertility and hatchability of indigenous Siruvidai chicken hatching egg with Nicobari black and TANUVAS Aseel eggs under artificial incubation conditions. A total of 4,646 Siruvidai, 5,428 Nicobari black and 5,999 TANUVAS Aseel hatching eggs collected from farm were artificially incubated and the fertility and hatchability were recorded. The eggs that failed to hatch out were subjected to egg break-open studies at the end of incubation period to determine the stage of embryonic mortality. The results revealed that the mean fertility rate was significantly (p<0.01) higher in Nicobari black (89.20±0.12%) compared to Siruvidai (85.87±0.49%) and TANUVAS Aseel (87.48±0.04%). The hatchability on total egg set in Nicobari black (83.69±0.05) was significantly (p<0.01) higher than TANUVAS Aseel (82.43±0.02) and Siruvidai (80.25±0.61). On the other hand, the hatchability on fertile egg set was significantly (p<0.05) higher in TANUVAS Aseel (94.24±0.08%) compared to Siruvidai (93.47±0.23%) and Nicobari black (93.86±0.17%). The breakopen study of unhatched eggs revealed that the early embryonic mortality was significantly higher in TANUVAS Aseel (3.84±0.07%) compared to Siruvidai (3.51±0.03%) and Nicobari black (3.36±0.10). The mid embryonic mortality was 0.68±0.25, 0.88±0.45 and 0.50±0.33% in Siruvidai, Nicobari black and TANUVAS Aseel respectively and no significant (p>0.05) difference existed among the genetic groups. The late embryonic mortality and total embryonic mortality was significantly (p<0.01)) higher in Siruvidai (2.34±0.40 and 6.53±0.23%) followed by Nicobari black (1.90±0.14 and 6.14±0.24%) and TANUVAS Aseel (1.42±0.05 and 5.76±0.08%). Hence the results indicated that the fertility and hatchability rate and early embryonic mortality was lower in Siruvidai compared to Nicobari black and TANUVAS Aseel but the late and total embryonic mortality was higher in Siruvidai eggs compared to other genetic groups under artificial incubation conditions.