Disinfection Of Hatching Eggs Research Articles

Impact on Hatchability and Broiler Performance after Use of Hydrogen Peroxide Nebulization versus Formaldehyde Fumigation as Pre-Incubation Hatching Egg Disinfectants in Field Trial

Hatching egg disinfection, as part of the quality assurance system, is a standard procedure in commercial hatcheries. Formaldehyde was and is broadly used but bears high risks for the personnel. In preliminary studies, the spray application of hydrogen peroxide was successfully tested and was chosen to compare its efficacy and impact on hatchability, as well as performance during fattening, and at slaughter, to formaldehyde under field conditions. The trial was set up with hatching eggs from two breeder flocks, running parallelly in three groups (H2O2, formaldehyde and non-disinfected control) at four different flock ages (at 38, 39, 56, 57 weeks). No significant differences were noticed in the hatchery, whereas in the rearing period higher 7-day- and total mortalities occurred during trials 1 and 2 in all non-disinfected groups and one formaldehyde-treated group, making an antibiotic treatment necessary. At slaughter, the findings in all groups were comparable. Trials 3 and 4 passed without significant differences between all groups, leading to the conclusion that hatching egg disinfection lowers the risk of infection-related losses. Meanwhile, formaldehyde fumigation and the spraying of hydrogen peroxide produced similar results in all stages.

Essential oil sanitizers to sanitize hatching eggs

ABSTRACT Background: Eggs are low-cost source of protein for balanced human diet due to the high contents of essential nutrients. On eggshells, various microbial groups exist that may affect egg quality, embryonic development, and human health, posing potential health, food safety, and economic concerns. The use of essential oils to decontaminate eggshells could be a effective strategy for eliminating pathogenic microbes. Thus, the current study was designed to investigate the efficacy of oregano and cumin essential oils in controlling microbial activity on eggshell and assessing their effects on fertile egg hatchability, embryonic growth, and chick development after hatching. Methods: Hatching eggs were divided into four groups; control groups, fumigation, treatment with Oregano oils 0.5% and treatment with Cumin oils 0.5%. The bacterial contaminants of eggshell were enumerated for each experimented groups. The effects of the hatching egg disinfection on growth parameters including fertile egg weight, egg weight loss percentage, macroscopic fertility and hatchability percentages were estimated. Results: Total bacterial counts were significantly reduced in all treated experiments compared with those of the control ones. Microcephaly and exencephaly were clearly observed in the embryos treated with formalin fumigation. All embryos treated with oils exhibited no observed malformation on brain and spinal cord.

Effects of various disinfectants on the bacterial load and microbiome of broiler hatching eggs using electrostatic spray

Hatching egg disinfection is one method to reduce bacterial loads that can negatively impact chick health. Disinfection via electrostatic spray systems can improve chemical and water-use efficiency, however, the disinfection efficacy of these systems on hatching eggs is unknown. The objectives of this study were to 1) evaluate the disinfection efficacy of BioShield 75, bleach (Clorox), and Virocid on hatching eggs using electrostatic spray, and 2) characterize eggshell microbiome responses to the disinfectants. Hatching egg treatments consisted of BioShield 75, Virocid, 150 ppm bleach, water, and a dry control. Bacterial counts ( CFUs ) were measured 1 and 3 h postdisinfection (20 eggs per sampling time) and treatment reps were pooled for 16S rRNA sequencing analysis. Disinfectant type, sampling time, and their interaction affected eggshell bacteria counts ( P ≤ 0.05). Virocid and BioShield 75, and bleach led to reductions in bacterial contamination by 2.66 ( P < 0.0001), 2.09 ( P < 0.0001), and 0.48 lo g 10 CFU/egg ( P = 0.125), respectively. Average bacteria count increased after 3 h postdisinfection. Eggshell microbiome analysis indicated disinfectants reduced bacterial diversity, but populations were not different among treatment groups ( P ≤ 0.05). Overall, electrostatic application of BioShield 75 and Virocid significantly lowered bacterial loads on broiler hatching eggs when compared to bleach, water, and dry controls. The superior disinfection efficacy of BioShield 75 and Virocid may be attributed to their long residual action, which inhibit bacterial recolonization.

Use of electron irradiation versus formaldehyde fumigation as hatching egg disinfectants - efficacy and impact on hatchability and broiler performance.

The use of low-energy electron irradiation for hatching egg disinfection was compared to formaldehyde fumigation. To assess the efficacy, eggshells were examined for bacteria before and after disinfection. During incubation, hatching and fattening of 1400 Ross 308 broilers per group candling data, hatching rate, mortality rate and body mass development were recorded to evaluate the impact on health and performance. Additionally, data from the slaughter house and histological evaluation of organ samples were included in the health screening. Regarding the efficacy, irradiation and formaldehyde significantly reduced the number of bacteria compared to non-disinfected eggs. However, no significant difference was recorded between both treatments. The irradiated group performed better than the reference group concerning the number of infertile eggs, early and late dead embryos and fertile eggs. The performance during fattening was nearly identical in both groups, while mortality differed slightly between the irradiated group and the group treated with formaldehyde. Upon slaughter, there were minor variations concerning the distribution of findings between the groups, but the number of anomalies was not higher than reference values suggest. In both groups no health problems were observed during rearing and the fattening performance met the targets of the manufacturer Aviagen for the used broiler line Ross 308. Lower-energy electron irradiation proves to be an efficient and well-tolerated hatching egg disinfection procedure. Further field trials are necessary to establish low-energy electron irradiation as an alternative to formaldehyde fumigation.

Preliminary study: Health and performance assessment in broiler chicks following application of six different hatching egg disinfection protocols.

As part of a Germany-wide project that evaluates strategies for the reduction of multi-resistant bacteria along the poultry production chain, the impact of different hatching egg disinfectants on hatchability and health of the broiler chicks was evaluated. Animal trials were conducted with extended-spectrum beta-lactamase- (ESBL) producing Escherichia (E.) coli contaminated hatching eggs and six disinfection protocols that used formaldehyde, hydrogen peroxide, low-energy electron irradiation, peracetic acid and an essential oil preparation. Each protocol was tested on a group of 50 chicks. Equally sized positive and negative control groups were carried along for each trial. Hatchability, mortality and body weight were recorded as performance parameters. During necropsy of half of the animals in each group on day 7 and 14 respectively, macroscopic abnormalities, body weight, weights of liver and gut convolute were recorded and a range of tissue samples for histological examination were collected as part of the health assessment. A decrease in hatchability was recorded for spray application of essential oils. Body weight development was overall comparable, in several groups even superior, to the Ross308 performance objectives, but a reduced performance was seen in the hydrogen peroxide group. Histologically, lymphoid follicles were regularly seen in all sampled organs and no consistent differences were observed between contaminated and non-contaminated groups. Significances were infrequently and inconsistently seen. In conclusion, remarkable findings were a decrease in hatchability caused by the essential oils spray application and a reduced body weight development in the hydrogen peroxide group. Therefore, the essential oils preparation as spray application was deemed inappropriate in practice, while the application of hydrogen peroxide was considered in need of further research. The other trial results indicate that the tested hatching egg disinfectants present a possible alternative to formaldehyde.

Impact of Hatching Egg Disinfection on Hatching Characteristics and Chick Embryos

Four thousand two hundred hatching eggs were obtained from Bandarah chicken to evaluate the effect of chemical and natural egg disinfectants and fumigation on egg weight loss, embryonic mortality, hatchability, hatch time, chick weight and chick weight loss. Three incubation trials were done; each one contained 1400 hatched eggs and divided into fourteen treatments (100 eggs per each). First treatment (T1) was used as control without any treatment, eggs of second treatment (T2) were dipped in water and third treatment in alcohol, whereas T4, T5, T6, T7 treated egg groups were dipped in chemical disinfectant (sodium chloride, betadine, hydrogen peroxide, virkon S). Egg of T9, T10, T11, T12, T13 and T14 groups were dipped in natural disinfectants (oregano, cumin 02 and 04 % and oregano+ cumin01 and 02), respectively. The thickest eggshell (031mm) was recorded for betadine group in infertile eggs compared with those for formaldehyde fumigation and oregano+cumin 01% oregano+cumin 01% group (035mm) compared with all other treatment groups. Formaldehyde fumigation recorded the worst and highest significant percentage of embryonic mortality (1795%). Highest significant percentages for hatchability of fertile egg were recorded in egg groups with oregano 02 and 04% (9687 and 9576%), cumin 02 and 04 % (9551and 9715%) and oregano+cumin01 and 02% (9619 and 9615%), respectively.

The Effects of Using Garlic Extract for Quail Hatching Egg Disinfection on Hatching Results and Performance

ABSTRACT This experiment was carried out to determine the effects of using garlic extract (Allium sativum) as an alternative to formaldehyde for the disinfection of hatching eggs on hatching traits and growth performance of quails. Four treatments, with 240 hatching eggs each, were evaluated: egg immersion in two different levels (2.5% and 5.0%) of garlic extract (garlic-1, garlic-2), formaldehyde fumigation (positive control), and eggs not submitted to disinfection (negative control). Mid-term and late embryomortality, pipped egg, and culled chick rates were not influenced by the (p>0.05). The highest (p 0.05). The results obtained for hatching traits and live performance parameters indicated that the immersion of eggs in garlic extract may be used as an alternative to formaldehyde fumigation for the disinfection of hatching quail eggs.