Phenotype correlation of external and incubation traits of Italian White Goose eggs and goslings after hatching

Abstract

Based on observations and established results related to reproduction characteristics, i.e. physical and incubation values of the Italian White Goose, following conclusions were drawn: out of 400 incubated eggs, 352 were fertilised (88.00%); 316 goslings were hatched (79% and 89.77% out of the number of inlaid and the number of fertilised eggs respectively); while the mortality during the incubation period (early, medium and late) amounted to 36 dead embryos (9.00% and 11.39% out of the number of incubated and the number of fertilised eggs respectively). Furthermore, following correlation was established by calculating the coefficients of phenotype correlation between major traits: very weak – between egg weight and egg shape index (rp = 0.180**); absolute – between egg weight and hatching weight of goslings (rp = 0.986***); medium – between egg weight and gosling percentage in the egg weight (rp = 0.477***); weak – between egg shape index and gosling weight (rp = 0.195***); while between the egg shape index and the gosling percentage in the egg weight no statistically significant (P>0.05) correlation was established (rp = 0.031NS).