Effect of Egg Weight on Egg Traits and Hatching Performance of Turkey (<i>Meleagris gallopavo</i>) Eggs

Abstract

The study was conducted to determine the effects of turkey <em>(Meleagris gallopavo</em>)egg weight on certain egg traits and hatching performance. A total of 178 turkey eggs comprising of three different egg weight groups below 60 g (G I), 61 to 69 g (G II) and above 70 g (G III) were used for this study. Average egg weight (g), egg length (cm), egg breadth (cm) and egg volume (cm³) values increased with increasing egg weight. There was a significant (P<0.01) difference in egg traits between egg weight groups except shape index. Percentage of infertile eggs and embryonic mortalities were decreased whereas percentage of dead in shell, total egg hatchability, fertile egg hatchability, fertility and poult hatched weight values were increased as weight of egg increased. Results of higher hatching performance was obtained for eggs that weighed above 71 g and were statistically significant (P<0.01) from eggs that weighed between 60-69 g and below 60 g. It is concluded that turkey eggs that weigh above 70 g would be suitable for setting to obtain better reproductive performance followed by medium sized turkey eggs (6-69 g) and small sized turkey eggs weighed below 60 g.