Informatics Publishing Limited

Varun Sankhyan ¹, Y. P. Thakur ¹, S. Katoch ¹, P. K. Dogra ¹

Affiliations
1 Animal Genetics and Breeding, DGCN College of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, CSK Himachal Pradesh Krishi Vishvavidyalaya, Palampur-176 062, IN

Abstract

An investigation was carried out to study the effect of season, genotype, age of breeder hen and source of egg collection on fertility, hatchability and chick survivability at Palampur during July 2010 to August 2012. There was significant effect of season on the fertility (P<0.01). The highest average fertility was observed in winter (90.54±0.64%) followed by monsoon (86.74±1.45%) and summer (84.73±1.67%). The highest mean fertility was found in Native, followed by Native x Dahlem Red (DR) and Native x Rhode Island Red (RIR). The highest average fertility and hatchability were observed in 40-60 week age group followed by 26-40 week and 60 and above. The source of collection of egg also has significant effect on hatchability as well as fertility (p<0.01). Eggs collected from farmer's flock had lower fertility (81.06±1.33%) and hatchability (67.61±1.80%) when compared with fertility (88.27±0.88%) and hatchability (74.70±1.17%) of farm's eggs. The hatchability operation under sub temperate condition of the region can be effectively carried out throughout the year without much reduction in fertility and hatchability, although greater care and managemental precision must be exercised in winter season both during hatching as well as brooding in the region.

Keywords

Fertility, Hatchability, Chick Survivability.

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D. Wadhwa ¹, V. K. Sharma ¹, Arun Sharma ¹, Vinod Sharma ¹, S. Katoch ¹

Affiliations
1 Department of Animal Nutrition, DGCN College of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, CSK Himachal Pradesh Krishi Vishvavidyalaya, Palampur-176 062, IN

Abstract

Changes in life style of people have led to increase in incidence of diseases such as heart failure, hypertension and diabetes. As a result, today's consumer is becoming aware of usefulness of functional foods. Eggs are considered to be complete food, but clinicians and dieticians are concerned about their cholesterol content. Hence, a large population of the world is unable to have the benefits of eggs. This paper reviews the feeding strategies by which egg can be converted into healthy product for heart. Fatty acid composition of egg yolk can be altered, by feeding chromium, marine algae, rapeseed and flax seed or their corresponding oils. While altering polyunsaturated fatty acids of yolk, antioxidants such as vitamin E are also supplemented. This not only adds to the nutritional value of eggs, but also improves the shelf-life of eggs and egg products. Chromium can be used for production of low cholesterol eggs and using such eggs can also avoid/delay/decrease the severity of diabetes. Low cholesterol eggs and conjugated linoleic acid rich eggs have also been patented by scientists. Most of the polyunsaturated fatty acid modifiers (except some herbs) reduce the sensory acceptability of eggs and performance of hens. So, more research is required to be done to establish the use as polyunsaturated fatty acid modifiers. The use of marine algae for producing docosahexaenoic acid rich eggs is promising, but it is also required to be thoroughly researched because some algal species accumulate certain heavy metals in higher concentration than surroundings. Although low cholesterol, high vitamin and high docosahexaenoic acid eggs are available in some metro cities of India, at relatively very high cost, the producers of these eggs have their 'trade secrets'. These eggs are not available to the average population of the country. Therefore, more research should be conducted on the use of locally available materials, combined with robust technology so that the poultry farmers can adopt the method of producing designer eggs so that these eggs are available to common man at reasonable cost. This would also improve economic status of poultry farmers.

Keywords

Cholesterol Manipulation, Heart-Healthy Eggs, Dietary Manipulation, PUFA Modification.

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Loopamudra Sarma ¹, S. Katoch ¹, Y. P. Thakur ¹, Varun Sankhyan ¹

Affiliations
1 Department of Animal Genetics and Breeding, CSK Himachal Pradesh Krishi Vishvavidyalaya, Palampur ­176 062, IN

Abstract

Wool yield data on first and second annual wool clips and cumulative yield over first two years on 588 German Angora rabbits of either sex, maintained at Angora Rabbit Breeding Farm, Kandwari, Palampur (HP) in sub­ temperate, mid­hill region of Himachal Pradesh at altitude of 1300 mts above MSL over a period of 8 years (2000 to 2007) were analysed to study the effect of year and season of kindling and sex of the animal on performance for these wool yield traits. All rabbits were farm bred progeny obtained during subsequent generation mating of a foundation stock (8 bucks and 32 does) of an improved imported strain of German Angora breed. The overall least squares means estimated were 594.22 ± 67.13 g, 591.82 ± 193.67 g and 1185.96 ± 202.96 g for first annual, second annual and cumulative wool yields respectively. The year of kindling effect was observed significant (P<0.01) on all wool production traits under study while seasonal influence was significant (P<0.05) for first annual wool clip only. The sex differences were observed statistically non­significant. From the results, it can be concluded that among different non­genetic factors, the period of kindling is the single largest effect influencing performance of German Angora rabbits for annual and cumulative wool production traits.

Keywords

Annual Wool Yields, German Angora Rabbits, Non­ Genetic Factors.

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