Effects of Protein in Diet and Sex Ratio on Egg Production, Egg and Hatching Chick Weight, Fertility, Hatchability and Embryonal Mortality in Pheasants (Phasianus Colchicus)

M Uğurlu,M Salman,B Teke,F Akdağ

doi:10.1590/1806-9061-2016-0423

Abstract

ABSTRACT This study was performed to investigate the effects of crude protein (CP) in diet and sex ratio on egg production, egg and hatching chick weight and hatchability traits in pheasants (Phasianus Colchicus). In this study, the treatment groups were constructed as 15% CP-5:1; 15% CP-7:1; 18% CP-5:1; 18% CP-7:1 for CP and sex (male:female) ratio respectively. The eggs were obtained from 48 weeks old pheasant. In this study, it was determined that there was positive effective on egg production, egg and hatching weight and hatchability of fertile eggs (HFE) for 18% CP. In contrast, fertility (FR) (p 0.05), EPEM (p>0.05) and MPEM (p>0.05) tended to decrease with increasing CP. It was found that there was egg production, egg (p>0.05) and hatching weight (p>0.05), FR (p>0.05), HR (p>0.05) and HFE (p>0.05) increased with increasing female for sex ratio. In terms of embryonic mortality, the EPEM (p>0.05) and LPEM (p>0.05) rate decreased with increasing female. For protein levels × sex ratio, it was found that hatchability traits were adversely affected for 15% CP-1:7. Also, it was determined that the lowest EPEM, MPEM and LPEM were determined for 7:1 in 18% CP group. Based on these results, to improve hatchability traits and a lower embryonic mortality rate, it may be beneficial to use 15% CP-5:1 or 18% CP-7:1 for pheasant breeding.

Highlights

In poultry breeding, high fertility, hatchability and low embriyonic mortality are the main goal for profitability and productivity
As a contribution to efforts to increase the efficiency of pheasant breeding, the current study aimed to investigate the effects of the protein levels in the diets and sex ratio on hatchability and embryonal mortality
For the diet of protein levels × sex ratio groups, it was determined that the highest egg weight was for 7:1 in 18% crude protein (CP), but the highest hatching chick weight

Summary

Introduction

High fertility, hatchability and low embriyonic mortality are the main goal for profitability and productivity. The composition of hen diet has an effective factor on egg production (Khajali et al, 2008; Perez-Bonilla et al, 2012), egg weight (Whitehead et al, 1991, Zimmerman 1997; Shim et al, 2013) and hatching characters (Danicke et al, 2000) in poultry. The protein level of hen diet is one of the factors influencing egg production and egg weight. Some researchers reported the general tendency increase egg production and egg weight with the increase of protein levels in the diets (Gunawardana et al, 2008; King’ori et al, 2010; Mohiti-Asli et al, 2012; Shim et al, 2013).

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Conclusion