Volume 7
Issue 2
Animal Husbandry
JOURNAL OF
POLISH
AGRICULTURAL
UNIVERSITIES
Available Online: http://www.ejpau.media.pl/volume7/issue2/animal/abs-08.html
EFFECT OF RELATIVE HUMIDITY ON THE HATCHABILITY OF EMU (DROMAIUS NOVAEHOLLANDIAE) EGGS
Danuta Szczerbińska, Zofia Tarasewicz, Danuta Majewska, Alicja Dańczak, Marek Ligocki, Krystyna Romaniszyn
ABSTRACT
Little information on emu incubation techniques has been published so far both in the Polish and foreign literature; hence this study, which is aimed to investigate effects of various levels of incubation relative humidity on the hatchability of emu eggs. Three levels of relative humidity (RH), 20, 25, and 30%, were applied to groups I, II, and III, respectively. The temperature 36.4°C was maintained constant in all the groups during the incubation. The poorest results were recorded in the group III with 30% relative humidity. Keeping lower humidity in the groups I and II resulted in improved hatchability, especially due to reduced percentage of crippled and weak chicks. It was found that humidity significantly influenced egg weight loss during incubation; lower relative humidity resulted in increased egg weight loss. Humidity also significantly influenced the body weight of the chicks. In the group with the lowest humidity, the ratio of the chick body weight to the initial egg weight w
Key words: egg, emu, hatchability, humidity, incubation..