Suboptimal environmental conditions such as a high temperature during the 21 days of incubation of chicken embryos can negatively affect development and lead to mortality. The reason why this happens and the long-lasting consequences of suboptimal incubation conditions are largely unknown and are therefore investigated in the thesis of Roos Molenaar.
Results show that a high temperature from the first week of incubation negatively affects survival and development of chickens from the incubation until the growout period. This is possibly the result of the lower hepatic glycogen stores that were found in embryos incubated at a high temperature. Hepatic glycogen (=sugars) is utilized during the energy demanding hatching process. The lack of these readily available sugars in embryos incubated at a high temperature may result in the use of proteins for energy instead of body development.
Furthermore, high compared with normal incubation temperatures reduce the heart and lung development at hatch and may impair the heart and lung capacity in later life. This may explain the increase in mortality related with ascites or the so called ‘waterbelly’ that was found in broiler chickens that were incubated at a high temperature. A higher mortality related with ascites due to a high incubation temperature was not demonstrated before.
Title thesis: Perinatal development and nutrient utilization in chickens - Effects of incubation conditions