Effect of protein rearing diet and age on fertility and hatch-ability parameters of Saudi Arabian Baladi chickens

Abstract

A total of 4800 eggs was used in this study. The eggs were obtained from Saudi Arabian Baladi Chickens which have been subjected to four different protein rearing diets: conventional (C), reverse protein (RP), 12% CP from 1-6 weeks followed by a 15% CP from 6-14 weeks and 18% CPfrom 14-20 weeks of age, single stagelowprotein (SSI) 15% CP and (SS2) 12% CPdiets from 1-20 weeks of age. All the birds received a conventional 18% CP diet during the first week of age and were offered a commercial ration during the laying period. Eggs were collected over three consecutive days at the first week of each month and incubated to determine percentages of fertility (F), fertile hatch ability (FH), total emberyonic mortality (M) and emberyonic mortality during the 1-7 (M1), 8-18 (M2) and 19-21 (MJ) days ofthe incubation period. The results indicated that protein rearing diet has no significant influence on any of the studied traits. The study also showed that a 12% CP rearing diet was adequate to support high fertility and hatchability precentages. Age effect was found to be significant (P"".OI) for all studied traits. F, FH and M2 decreased while M, M1 and MJ increased with increasing age. The overall averages were 95.69, 90.60 and 8.71 % for F, FH and M respectively. These values were comparable to those of best hatch reported for standard breeds.