RESEARCH ON INCUBATION INDEX OF THE EGGS PROVIDED BY GRAY GUINEA FOWL NUMIDA MELEAGRIS

Alina Teodorescu, Gabriela Atudosiei, D.C. Roşca, R.M. Radu-Rusu, M.G. Usturoi

Abstract
    Nowadays, the prevention of diseases through a healthy diet for modern society is becoming a matter of major interest, from a socially, economically and politically point of view. In this context, the objective of the research was to evaluate the incubation index recorded by eggs provided by gray guinea fowl, reared in both extensive and intensive system. A number of features were investigated regarding the clarity of the eggs, the percentage of fertility, the number of eggs with dead embryos, the percentage of hatching. The data regarding the clarity of the eggs show us for the extensive system values between 24.39% (batch 2) and 29.97% (batch 3), and for the intensive system the values were in the range 9.76-14.63 %. Regarding the fertility of the analyzed eggs, it exceeded the threshold of 70% in all batches from the extensive system; for intensive system eggs, fertility was over 85%. The highest embryonic mortality was recorded in batch 1 (24%), and the lowest in batches 4 and 5 (15%). Regarding the hatching of eggs, the results recorded ranged around 65% for the extensive system and 80% for the intensive system. The hatchery percentage shows us for the extensive system values between 43.90% (batch 3) and 51.22% (batch 2). The intensive system was highlighted with much higher values, more precisely batch 4 with a hatching percentage of 73.17%, batch 5 with a percentage of 70.73%, and batch 6 with a value of 70.73%. Guinea fowl eggs have a number of very valuable biological properties, so the extensive exploitation of these birds can have great prospects for development.