THE INFLUENCES OF PREINCUBATION STORAGE DURATION AND GENOTYPE ON THE HATCHABILITY OF MEDIUM WHITE TURKEY EGGS FROM HENS FED A DIET CONTAINING A YEAST CULTURE OF SACCHAROMYCES-CEREVISIAE
Gl. Bradley et Tf. Savage, THE INFLUENCES OF PREINCUBATION STORAGE DURATION AND GENOTYPE ON THE HATCHABILITY OF MEDIUM WHITE TURKEY EGGS FROM HENS FED A DIET CONTAINING A YEAST CULTURE OF SACCHAROMYCES-CEREVISIAE, Animal feed science and technology, 51(1-2), 1995, pp. 141-152
Two experiments were conducted to determine the effects of feeding tur
key breeder hens of different genotypes a diet containing 5 g kg(-1) y
east culture (YC) and its effect on preincubation egg storage duration
(Experiment 1, eggs stored 0-7 and 8-14 days; Experiment 2, eggs stor
ed 0-4, 5-9, and 10-14 days), hen reproductive performance, and the ha
tchability of fertile eggs. Wrolstad Medium White turkey hens, represe
nting three distinct genetic lines, Low (L), High (H), and Cross (C),
were fed pelleted 15.4% crude protein (CP) corn/soya breeder diets wit
hout or with 5 g kg(-1) YC (XP yeast culture(R), Saccharomyces cerevis
iae, Diamond V. Mills Inc., Cedar Rapids, IA). The results of Experime
nt 1 indicated that early embryonic mortality (Days 0-10) of eggs stor
ed from Days 0 to 7 was reduced (P<0.01) in the three lines when suppl
emental YC was provided in the breeder hen's diet. Hatch of fertile eg
gs was increased (P<0.02) in the line C eggs stored from Days 0 to 7 p
rior to incubation and there was a significant (P<0.04) genotype-dieta
ry YC interaction. The results of Experiment 2 were similar to those i
n Experiment 1; early embryonic mortality was reduced in eggs stored f
rom Days 5 to 9 in Lines H and C. Significant genotype-dietary YC inte
ractions were noted for egg storage times of Days 5-9 (P<0.05) and 10-
14 (P<0.04). A genotype-dietary YC interaction (P<0.01) was also obser
ved when the hatch of fertile eggs was increased in eggs stored from D
ays 5 to 9 in Lines H and C but not in Line L. These results indicate
that the breeder hen's genotype and duration of preincubation egg stor
age time are factors to be considered when feeding diets containing a
YC to turkey breeder hens.