I found this site about the result of incubation in 3 diferent humidity levels
I thought it was interesting and wanted to share with you guys
http://www.lrrd.org/lrrd21/3/roma21038.htm
Abstract
This research aimed to verify the effect of relative humidity during incubation of Japanese quail eggs on hatchability, egg weight loss, hatch weight, and embryo mortality. A total of 150 Japanese quails (Coturnix japonica) were used for egg collections. The eggs were divided into three experimental groups: low humidity group (36.05±6.06% RH; n=100), intermediate humidity group (52.25±4.99% RH; n=100) and high humidity group (76.50±4.44% RH; n=100). Each group of eggs was incubated in an individual incubator, according to its experimental relative humidity during incubation. Incubation process was done by automatic incubators with temperature of 37.5°C, and egg turning every 30 minutes. At the 15th day of incubation (360h) egg turning was stopped and the eggs were transferred to the hatcher that maintained the same temperature and relative humidity until hatch. All eggs were weighted on 1st, 5th, 10th, and 15th day of incubation and quail chicks at hatch.
Japanese quail eggs incubated at the lower humidity presented the highest level of hatchability (79%) compared to intermediate and high humidities. Egg weight loss was respectively 11.96%, 8.94%, and 4.89% for low, intermediate and high humidity groups. Futhemore, the weight at hatch was influenced by the different incubational humidities. Embryo mortality presented no statistical difference among the different humidity treatments.
Key-words: Coturnix japonica, egg weight loss, embryo mortality, hatch weight, hatchability
Introduction
Japanese quail raising is an important poultry business in Brazil. The quails have been reared for both egg and meat production all over the country, mainly by small and medium breeders. Incubation procedures are important to maintenance and improvement of quail egg production in Brazil, which is increasing over the last years. One of the key points of incubation is the humidity control of incubators to allow a successful incubation performance.
Water accounts for 68.25% of total eggs mass before incubation (Martin and Arnold 1991). The amount of moisture lost from the eggs during incubation can affect hatchability (Lundy 1969) and chick weight (Burton and Tullett 1985).
During incubation, a certain amount of water must be around the embryos to protect them from drying out at an early stage of development (Yoshizaki and Saito 2002). Conversely, at a late stage of development, the drying of embryos is necessary to initiate air breathing (Bainter and Fehér 1974).
Usually 12 to 14% of water is lost during incubation of broiler and turkey eggs (Rahn et al 1981). Too low or too high water loss influences embryo development (Rahn and Ar 1974), and, consequently, egg hatchability (Meir et al 1984). The rate of water loss from eggs during incubation can be regulated through changes in incubator relative humidity (Peebles et al 1987; Tullett 1990).
The temperature can highly influence the relative humidity, and both contribute to water loss during incubation, this way temperature and humidity must be carefully monitored during incubation, because the embryo is not able to control the water loss of egg (Ar 1991).
The relationship between temperature and relative humidity was studied and standardized for duck (Cheng et al 2005), turkey (Applegate et al 1999) and broiler incubation (Van Brecht et al 2003), even though it was not sufficiently studied this relationship on Japanese quail incubation.
The objective of this research was verifying the effect of relative humidity during incubation of Japanese quail eggs on hatchability, egg weight loss, hatch weight, and embryo mortality
I thought it was interesting and wanted to share with you guys
http://www.lrrd.org/lrrd21/3/roma21038.htm
Abstract
This research aimed to verify the effect of relative humidity during incubation of Japanese quail eggs on hatchability, egg weight loss, hatch weight, and embryo mortality. A total of 150 Japanese quails (Coturnix japonica) were used for egg collections. The eggs were divided into three experimental groups: low humidity group (36.05±6.06% RH; n=100), intermediate humidity group (52.25±4.99% RH; n=100) and high humidity group (76.50±4.44% RH; n=100). Each group of eggs was incubated in an individual incubator, according to its experimental relative humidity during incubation. Incubation process was done by automatic incubators with temperature of 37.5°C, and egg turning every 30 minutes. At the 15th day of incubation (360h) egg turning was stopped and the eggs were transferred to the hatcher that maintained the same temperature and relative humidity until hatch. All eggs were weighted on 1st, 5th, 10th, and 15th day of incubation and quail chicks at hatch.
Japanese quail eggs incubated at the lower humidity presented the highest level of hatchability (79%) compared to intermediate and high humidities. Egg weight loss was respectively 11.96%, 8.94%, and 4.89% for low, intermediate and high humidity groups. Futhemore, the weight at hatch was influenced by the different incubational humidities. Embryo mortality presented no statistical difference among the different humidity treatments.
Key-words: Coturnix japonica, egg weight loss, embryo mortality, hatch weight, hatchability
Introduction
Japanese quail raising is an important poultry business in Brazil. The quails have been reared for both egg and meat production all over the country, mainly by small and medium breeders. Incubation procedures are important to maintenance and improvement of quail egg production in Brazil, which is increasing over the last years. One of the key points of incubation is the humidity control of incubators to allow a successful incubation performance.
Water accounts for 68.25% of total eggs mass before incubation (Martin and Arnold 1991). The amount of moisture lost from the eggs during incubation can affect hatchability (Lundy 1969) and chick weight (Burton and Tullett 1985).
During incubation, a certain amount of water must be around the embryos to protect them from drying out at an early stage of development (Yoshizaki and Saito 2002). Conversely, at a late stage of development, the drying of embryos is necessary to initiate air breathing (Bainter and Fehér 1974).
Usually 12 to 14% of water is lost during incubation of broiler and turkey eggs (Rahn et al 1981). Too low or too high water loss influences embryo development (Rahn and Ar 1974), and, consequently, egg hatchability (Meir et al 1984). The rate of water loss from eggs during incubation can be regulated through changes in incubator relative humidity (Peebles et al 1987; Tullett 1990).
The temperature can highly influence the relative humidity, and both contribute to water loss during incubation, this way temperature and humidity must be carefully monitored during incubation, because the embryo is not able to control the water loss of egg (Ar 1991).
The relationship between temperature and relative humidity was studied and standardized for duck (Cheng et al 2005), turkey (Applegate et al 1999) and broiler incubation (Van Brecht et al 2003), even though it was not sufficiently studied this relationship on Japanese quail incubation.
The objective of this research was verifying the effect of relative humidity during incubation of Japanese quail eggs on hatchability, egg weight loss, hatch weight, and embryo mortality
