Extended Storage of Quail, Chicken, and Turkey Eggs

Abstract

INTRODUCTION EXTENDED pre-incubation storage of fertilized eggs has long been known to cause retarded growth and abnormal development of embryos (Landauer, 1967; review). Only few studies have dealt specifically with the relationship between storage age of hatching eggs and twinning. Arora and Kosin (1966) found more embryos with duplications in stored than in fresh chicken and turkey eggs, while Homma and Jinno (1968) failed to confirm this for Japanese quail. No reports, to our knowledge, consider monovular avian twins to be of other than environmental origin. This report investigates some of the most frequent morphological abnormalities encountered in stored quail, chicken, and turkey eggs. It attempts to demonstrate a genetic basis for twinning in Japanese quail. MATERIALS AND METHODS The source of data is the same as in the first report of this series (Sittmann et al., 1971). The Japanese quail used in this study included non-inbred, i.e. control, parents…