Embryonic development of the domestic guinea fowl (Numida meleagris)

Abstract

Inside the viable range 36–39°C, the development of the domestic guinea fowl embryo was studied during artificial incubation of about 5000 eggs. Equations giving internal and external pipping and hatching time as a function of incubation temperature were developed. Whatever temperature was used, internal and external pipping occurred at 89% and 95% of hatching time, respectively. The chronological development in ovo of the guinea fowl is illustrated by growth curves. Guinea fowl grew in ovo at the same rate as the chicken embryo. The embryonic mortality is significantly affected by incubation temperature. The thermal tolerance of the embryo follows a parabolic curve: temperatures below or above 37.2°C increase the rate of mortality. During the course of the incubation, the mortality frequency was mainly distributed around two peaks (each one third of the total), which occurred during the first days of incubation, that is, within the first 12% of the incubation time, and during the last days, that is, after 85% of the incubation time. At the optimal 37.2°C temperature, these two peaks occurred on days 1–3 and 23–27, respectively.