Comparison of the slaughter characteristics of meat-type chicks hatched from eggs with different composition

Abstract

Using the so-called TOBEC (Total Body Electrical Conductivity) method for the in vivo determination of egg composition, the effect of egg composition on the slaughter characteristics of hatched chicks was examined in the ROSS-308 meat-type genotype. Chicks hatched from eggs with low, average and high electrical conductivity were slaughtered at 42 days of age. It was found that the weight of all of the examined traits showed highest values in the case of chicks hatched from eggs with low electrical conductivity, while the lowest values could be observed in the case of chicks hatched from eggs with high electrical conductivity. Similar tendencies were observed also in the case of the ratio of the examined slaughter traits to the slaughter weight, but in this case the differences were not statistically proven (P>0.05).