STUDY ON THE INFLUENCE OF THE INCUBATION EGGS KEEPING POSITION DURING STORAGE AND THEIR OLDNESS ON HATCHING RESULTS OF THE BALOTESTI QUAILS POPULATION

G. Nica, L. Ioniţă, Elena Popescu-Micloşanu, N. Stanciu

Abstract
   In order to determine the effect of position of eggs during storage and their oldness on hatching results, an experiment was organized on a total of 1,800 incubation eggs of Balotesti quails population. For this purpose, the incubation eggs were collected for 6 days and kept on average temperature of 15°C and average relative humidity 75%, of which 900 were kept with the tip pointed down and 900 were kept in a horizontal position.
   As a result of the carried out research, it was found that the batch of eggs preserved with the tip pointed down during storage has registered an average hatching percentage of 74.66%, with 14.00% higher that the batch of eggs kept in a horizontal position (60.46%). Also, in the batch of eggs kept with the tip pointed down during storage, there was a percentage of weight loss with 2.02% lower and the rate of weight loss during incubation with 3.86 percent lower in the experimental batch compared to the percentage of weight loss recorded by the batch of eggs kept in a horizontal position. Regarding the age of the eggs, was found that the best results were recorded from eggs with length preservation of 4 days in both batches of eggs, while the freshest eggs, with oldness from 1-3 days, hatches began early, since the 15^th day of incubation, and the eggs with higher oldness, of 4-6 days, hatches unfolded in almost equal proportion in day 16^th and 17^th of incubation.

Key words: quail, eggs, storage, incubation, hatching