AMELIORATING THE NEGATIVE EFFECT OF EXTENDED EGG STORAGE ON CHUKAR PARTRIDGE EMBRYOS: THE SYNERGISTIC ROLE OF DIETARY GARLIC AND ONION POWDER SUPPLEMENTATION

Abstract

Aim

This study investigated the effect of dietary supplementation with dried onion and garlic powders on the fertility, hatchability, and embryonic mortality of chukar partridge eggs stored for varying periods.

Method

This study used 600 chukar partridges (100 males and 500 females) aged 32 weeks from a local farm.  The partridges were divided into four separate groups based on their diet: control (group C), onion (group %1O), garlic (group %2G), and onion plus garlic (group %2GO). This study used one-way ANOVA to evaluate the effect of dietary treatments within each storage period. Data were analyzed using SPSS version 25.

Result

The result shows that when eggs were retained for 15 to 21 days, the group with 2% GO had the highest fertility rate at 97.4%, whereas the control group C had the lowest fertility rate at 84.60% (P < 0.05).  With an 88.30% hatchability percentage for eggs held for 8 to 14 days, group %2GO had the highest overall egg hatchability.  With an 88.30% hatchability rate for eggs kept 8–14 days, group %2GO showed the best value in terms of viable egg viability.  After being held for 22 to 28 days, group %2O showed the highest value for early embryonic fatalities at 14.2% (P < 0.05).  When examining cases of mid-term embryonic death, the differences between the groups were found to be statistically insignificant.  %2G showed higher mortality in eggs held for 22-28 days, whereas group C showed raised late embryonic death rates in eggs stored for intervals of 0-to-7, 8-to-14, and 15-to-21 days.

Conclusion

Dietary supplementation with 2% dried garlic and 2% dried onion powder significantly improves reproductive performance, hatchability, and embryonic viability in chukar partridges.