Effect of egg sizes on egg qualities, hatchability and initial weight of the hatched-chicks

The study evaluates the relationship of egg weights with other egg qualities, hatchability and hatchling weights. One thousand eight hundred eggs from marshal broiler chicken were categorized into small (50 – 59 g), medium (60 – 69 g) and large (≥70 g) of 600 eggs per group in a completely randomized design. Hundred eggs from each group were subjected to quality analysis and the remaining incubated for hatchlings production. The egg length of of large group was the highest (4.71 cm) and lowest in small (4.22 cm). The relationship revealed 32.86% yolk in small size, while 33.71 and 30.99% was observed for medium and large respectively. Also, albumen ranged from 50.85% in small to 55.38% in large. Hatchability result revealed 74.50% for small egg and reduced as sizes increased. Hatchling weight was highest in large (49.19 g) and lowest in small (38.79 g). The regression equations showed that albumen weight and egg size were best predictors of chick's weight through their R2 values (0.68 and 0.57 respectively) compared to yolk weight with R2 of 0.28. It was therefore be inferred that breeder eggs size could affect egg quality parameters and chick's weight.