Abstract
Simple SummaryImproving day-old chick quality is essential for the overall profitability of the broiler productive cycle and has been associated with a decreased feed conversion rate, increased growth performance, resistance to infectious diseases, and welfare parameters. The hatchery practices are fundamental, since adequate hygiene and handling are crucial in reducing egg contamination and cross-contamination. Particularly, the efficient removal of rotten eggs has been suggested to reduce the overall bacterial burden contaminating the needle used for in-ovo vaccination, the nearby eggs, and the whole incubator/hatching room when broken. In the present multicentric study, including 11 European countries, a remarkable impact of the rotten egg percentage on hatchery productive parameters, such as the hatchability, embryo mortality, and level of contamination, was demonstrated. Efficient rotten egg removal and the application of new generation technologies for appropriate detection and removal tools should thus provide remarkable benefits for hatchery performances and indirectly for downstream poultry production.Day-old chick quality is an essential element for the overall profitability of the broiler productive cycle and has been associated with the growth performance and feed conversion rate. An effect on the development of the immune system was also reported, which could likely account for reduced susceptibility to infectious diseases and improved animal welfare parameters. Besides direct cost reduction, lower antimicrobial use and improved animal welfare are crucial in the directive of European Union legislation and are at the forefront of customer choices. Several factors contribute to determining the chick quality. Breeder flocks genetics, health, and management affect the egg features, quality, and bacterial load. However, hatchery practices play a pivotal role, since adequate hygiene and handling are fundamental in reducing egg contamination and cross-contamination. The presence of rotten eggs is often regarded as a major risk, since the internal bacterial load can contaminate the needle used for in-ovo vaccination, the nearby eggs, and the whole incubator/hatching room when broken. In the present multicentric study, representative of 40 hatcheries located in 11 European countries, a remarkable impact of the rotten egg percentage on the hatchery productive parameters, representative of the hatchability, embryo mortality, and level of contamination, was demonstrated. Efficient rotten egg removal and the application of appropriate detection and removal tools should thus provide remarkable benefits for hatchery performance and indirectly for downstream poultry production.
Highlights
Day-old chicken quality is of pivotal importance for the poultry meat-producing business.An improvement of this parameter will directly result in better performance in the farms, reduced antibiotic usage, decreased condemnation at slaughter, and improved product quality [1].This improvement in chick quality has a significant impact on profitability for all elements in the value chain
From the considered Key Parameters of Interest (KPI), a significant improvement in the model fit was observed when the hatchery was included in the model as a random effect
No significant improvement was achieved if the country or hatchery, nested within the country, were added in the model
Summary
Day-old chicken quality is of pivotal importance for the poultry meat-producing business.An improvement of this parameter will directly result in better performance in the farms, reduced antibiotic usage, decreased condemnation at slaughter, and improved product quality [1].This improvement in chick quality has a significant impact on profitability for all elements in the value chain. Day-old chicken quality is of pivotal importance for the poultry meat-producing business. An improvement of this parameter will directly result in better performance in the farms, reduced antibiotic usage, decreased condemnation at slaughter, and improved product quality [1]. This improvement in chick quality has a significant impact on profitability for all elements in the value chain. For broiler farms, receiving better day-old chicks will result in a lower need for the usage of antibiotics during production and improved animal welfare parameters [2,3,4,5]. Chick quality is crucial to success, having implications in disease control and flock, feed, and facility management [7]
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