Abstract
The effectiveness of formaldehyde egg disinfection is well documented in literature despite its reported toxicity. This study focused on the need for an optimum formaldehyde concentration (FC) that significantly reduces microbial load with minimal damaging effect on egg viability and hatchability. Using a true experimental design, bacterial load on formaldehyde-treated (FT) and control groups of eggs and hatchability were compared. Gram-staining and biochemical tests identified five bacterial species: Escherichia coli, Enterobacter sp., Bacillus cereus, Staphylococcus aureus and Micrococcus sp. with the two coliform bacteria, E. coli and Enterobacter sp., dominating. Comparison of median differences of bacterial load on eggs before and after formaldehyde treatment by Wilcoxon Signed-Rank Test showed marginal significance in bacterial load reduction (Z = -2.016, P = 0.044). This difference was observed for bacterial load between the control group (CG) and the FT group with FC 30/20 ml/g (U = 3.0, P = 0.047). The hatchability of the CG differed significantly from four FT groups of eggs with FC 30/20 ml/g showing the highest level of significance [χ² (1) = 14.71; P = 0.0001]. A FC of 30/20 ml/g produced the best domestic fowl egg disinfection compared to other FCs and hatchability decreased with increasing formalin volume.
Highlights
Microbial contamination of hatching eggs is a major issue in poultry production, as it can kill developing embryos, reduce hatchability and cause poor chick performance (Scott & Swetnam, 1993; Willinghan et al, 1996; Fasenko et al, 2009)
This study assessed the effect of varied formaldehyde concentrations on bacterial load on Gallus gallus domesticus egg shell and hatchability
Pairwise comparisons using Chisquare test revealed that hatchability of the control group differed significantly from four formaldehyde-treated groups of eggs with formaldehyde concentration (FC) 30/20 ml/g showing the highest level of significance [χ2 (1) = 14.71; P = 0.0001, Table 1]
Summary
Microbial contamination of hatching eggs is a major issue in poultry production, as it can kill developing embryos, reduce hatchability and cause poor chick performance (Scott & Swetnam, 1993; Willinghan et al, 1996; Fasenko et al, 2009). Some important groups of pathogens identified to be present in large amounts in hatch cabinets include Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas, Staphylococcus, Salmonella spp. and Aspergillus (Berrang et al, 1995), highlighting the importance of effective control of microbial contamination of eggs. Imperative to find an optimum formaldehyde concentration that significantly reduces microbial load and at the same time have less damaging effects on egg viability and hatchability.
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