Effects of egg weight on chick and organ development, growth and slaughter traits in pekin ducks

Abstract

This study was carried out to determine the effects of increased egg weight of pekin ducks on organ development, chick quality, growth traits, slaughter and carcass yield. A total of 405 one day old Pekin ducklings that have been hatched from light, medium and heavy hatching eggs, were used in the experiment. Egg weight were classified as “light” (<75 g), “medium” (76-82 g) and “heavy” (>83 g) by weighing with ±0.1 precision one by one. The chick hatching weight and leg length were found to be the highest in chicks hatched from heavy eggs, with values of 47.4 g and 227.8 mm compared to the chicks hatched from light and medium eggs (P<0.05). At 42 d of age, the body weight of ducks hatched from heavy eggs was 3195.0 g, compared to the ducks hatched from light and medium eggs (2879.6 and 2897.9 g, P=0.001). Any significant differences observed for feed conversion rate and mortality among the experimental groups (P>0.05). Slaughter weight, carcass weight were also the highest for ducks hatched from heavy eggs (P=0.004). In conclusion, increased egg weight affected chick hatching weight and growing performance in Pekin ducks.