Register      Login
Animal Production Science Animal Production Science Society
Food, fibre and pharmaceuticals from animals
Shopping Cart: ( empty )
You are here: Home > Journals > AN > EA08127
RESEARCH ARTICLE
Contents Vol 48(10)

Genetic relationships between water loss and shell deaths in ostrich eggs, assessed as traits of the female

Z. Brand A B F , S. W. P. Cloete A C , I. A. Malecki D and C. R. Brown E
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations

A Department of Animal Sciences, University of Stellenbosch, Private Bag X1, Matieland 7602, South Africa.

B Institute for Animal Production, Oudtshoorn, PO Box 351, Oudtshoorn 6620, South Africa.

C Institute for Animal Production, Elsenburg, Private Bag X1, Elsenburg 7607, South Africa.

D School of Animal Biology, Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Science, University of Western Australia, Crawley, WA 6009, Australia.

E Institute of Science and the Environment, University of Worcester, Henwick Grove, Worcester WR2 6AJ, United Kingdom.

F Corresponding author. Email: zanellb@elsenburg.com

Australian Journal of Experimental Agriculture 48(10) 1326-1331 https://doi.org/10.1071/EA08127
Submitted: 11 April 2008  Accepted: 31 July 2008   Published: 11 September 2008

Abstract

The ostrich industry suffers from a high rate of embryonic mortality during artificial incubation of eggs. Data from 34 285 eggs were used to derive 969 female-year records for evaporative water loss (WL), treated as a trait of the female. Heritability was significant for WL at a level of 0.40–0.41 (both after 21 and 35 days of incubation). WL at 21 and 35 days was negatively correlated on the genetic level with chick weight at hatching (–0.84 and –0.81, respectively). Shell deaths did not exhibit high levels of genetic variation (0.06), but were affected by the permanent environment of the female (0.33). Shell deaths were correlated with WL on a genetic level (–0.34 to –0.41), but the estimated genetic correlations were associated with high standard errors and are, therefore, not very robust. Further research is needed to obtain more accurate genetic relationships between traits influencing incubation.

Additional keywords: Struthio camelus.


References


Ar A (1991) Egg water movements during incubation. In ‘Avian incubation. Poultry science symposium 22’. (Ed. SG Tullet) pp. 157–173. (Butterworth-Heinemann: London)

Ar A (1996) Requirements for successful artificial incubation of ostrich eggs. In ‘Improving our understanding of ratites in farming environment. Proceedings of the international conference, 27–29 March 1996’. (Ed. DC Deeming) pp. 131–144.

Badley AR (1997) Fertility, hatchability and incubation of ostrich (Struthio camelus) eggs. Poultry and Avian Biology Reviews 8, 53–76. open url image1

Blood JR, Van Schalkwyk SJ, Cloete SWP, Brand Z (1998) Embryonic deaths in relation to water loss of artificially incubated ostrich eggs. In ‘Proceedings of the 2nd international ratite congress’. pp. 148–151.

Bowsher MW (1992) Improvement of reproductive efficiency in ostrich: characterization of late embryo mortality. PhD Thesis, A&M University of Texas, College Station.

Brand Z, Cloete SWP, Brown C, Malecki I (2007) Factors related to shell-deaths during artificial incubation of ostrich eggs. Journal of the South African Veterinary Association 78, 195–200.
|  CAS | PubMed |
open url image1

Bunter KL (2002) The genetic analysis of reproduction and production traits recorded for farmed ostriches (Struthio camelus). PhD Thesis, University of New England, Armidale.

Bunter KL, Cloete SW (2004) Genetic parameters for egg-, chick- and live-weight traits recorded in farmed ostriches (Struthio camelus). Livestock Production Science 91, 9–22.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | open url image1

Bunter KL, Cloete SWP, Van Schalkwyk SJ, Graser HU (2001) Factors affecting reproductive performance in farmed ostriches. Proceedings of the Association for the Advancement of Animal Breed and Genetics 16, 43–45.

Cloete SWP, Van Schalkwyk SJ, Brand Z (1998) Ostrich breeding – progress towards a scientifically-based strategy. In ‘Proceeding of the 2nd international ratite congress’. pp. 55–62.

Cloete SWP, Bunter KL, Brand Z, Lambrechts H (2004) Co-variances for reproduction, egg weight and chick weight in ostriches. South African Journal of Animal Science 34, 17–19. open url image1

Cloete SWP, Bunter KL, Brand Z (2005) Genetic parameters for reproduction in ostriches. Proceedings of the Association for the Advancement of Animal Breeding and Genetics 16, 132–155. open url image1

Cloete SWP, Scholtz AJ, Brand Z, Cloete SWP (2006) A preliminary study on the application of image analysis for the measurement of ostrich eggshell traits. South African Journal of Animal Science 36, 155–159. open url image1

Cloete SWP, Engelbrecht A, Olivier JJ, Bunter KL (2008) Deriving a preliminary breeding objective for commercial ostriches: an overview. Australian Journal of Experimental Agriculture 48, 1247–1256.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | open url image1

Davis TA, Shen SS, Ackerman RA (1988) Embryonic osmoregulation: consequences of high and low water loss during incubation of the chicken egg. The Journal of Experimental Zoology 245, 144–156.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | CAS | PubMed | open url image1

Deeming DC (1995) Factors affecting hatchability during commercial incubation of ostrich (Struthio camelus) eggs. British Poultry Science 36, 51–65.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | CAS | PubMed | open url image1

Deeming DC, Ayres L, Ayres FJ (1993) Observations on the commercial production of ostrich (Struthio camelus) in the United Kingdom: incubation. The Veterinary Record 132, 602–607.
|  CAS | PubMed |
open url image1

Engelbrecht A, Cloete SWP, Van Wyk JB (2008) Direct heterosis for liveweight and chick mortality in ostriches. Australian Journal of Experimental Agriculture 48, 1320–1325.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | open url image1

Fair MD, Van Wyk JB, Cloete SWP (2005) Parameter estimates for production traits of ostrich females within breeding seasons. In ‘Proceedings of the 3rd international ratite science symposium and XII world ostrich congress, 4–16th October 2005, Madrid, Spain’. (Ed. E Carbajo) pp. 21–27.

Gilmour AR, Thompson R, Cullis BR (1995) Average information REML, an efficient algorithm for variance parameter estimation in linear mixed models. Biometrics 51, 1440–1450.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | open url image1

Gilmour AR, Cullis BR, Welham SJ, Thompson R (1999) ASREML – reference manual. NSW Agriculture Biometric Bulletin No. 3. NSW Department of Agriculture, Orange.

Horbaňczuk JO, Sales J, Celeda T, Zieba G (1999) Effect of relative humidity on the hatchability of ostrich (Struthio camelus) eggs. Czech Journal of Animal Science 44, 303–307. open url image1

Lambrechts H (2004) Reproductive efficiency of ostriches (Struthio camelus). PhD Dissertation, University of the Free State, Bloemfontein, South Africa.

Martin PA, Arnold TW (1991) Relationships among fresh weight, incubation time and water loss in Japanese quail eggs. The Condor 93, 28–37.
| Crossref |
open url image1

Musara C, Chidhumo P, Murinzi N (1999) A retrospective analysis of water balance and hatchability in artificially incubated ostrich (Struthio camelus) eggs. Zimbabwe Veterinary Journal 30, 75–84. open url image1

Şahan U, Altan O, Ipek A, Yilmaz B (2003) Effects of some egg characteristics on mass loss and hatchability of ostrich (Struthio camelus) eggs. British Poultry Science 44, 380–385.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | PubMed | open url image1

Snyder GK, Birchard GF (1982) Rapid communication: water loss and survival in embryos of the domestic chicken. The Journal of Experimental Zoology 219, 115–117.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | CAS | PubMed | open url image1

Soliman FN, Rizk RE, Brake J (1994) Relationship between shell porosity, shell thickness, egg weight loss and embryonic development in Japanese quail eggs. Poultry Science 73(10), 1607–1611.
|  CAS | PubMed |
open url image1

Sotherland PR, Packard GC, Taigen TL, Boardman TJ (1979) An altitudinal cline in conductance of swallow (Petrochelidon pyrrhonota) eggs to water vapor. The Auk 97, 177–185. open url image1

Swart D, Rahn H (1988) Microclimate of ostrich nests: measurements of egg temperature and nest humidity using egg hygrometers. Journal of Comparative Physiology. B, Biochemical, Systemic, and Environmental Physiology 157, 845–853.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | open url image1

Swart D, Rahn H, De Kock JA (1987) Nest microclimate and incubation water loss of eggs of the African ostrich (Struthio camelus var. domesticus). The Journal of Experimental Zoology 1, 239–246.
|  CAS | PubMed |
open url image1

Tullett SG, Burton FG (1982) Factors affecting the weight and water status of the chick at hatch. British Poultry Science 23, 361–369.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | open url image1

Van Schalkwyk SJ, Cloete SWP, De Kock JA (1996) Repeatability and phenotypic correlations for live weight and reproduction in commercial ostrich breeding pairs. British Poultry Science 37, 953–962.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | CAS | PubMed | open url image1

Van Schalkwyk SJ, Brand Z, Cloete SWP, Blood JR (1998) The influence of different disinfection protocols on the hatching performance of ostrich eggs. In ‘Proceedings of the 2nd international ratite congress’. pp. 157–159.

Van Schalkwyk SJ, Brand Z, Cloete SWP, Brown CR (1999) Effects of time of egg collection and pre-incubation treatment on blastoderm development and embryonic mortality in ostrich embryos. South African Journal of Animal Science 29, 154–163. open url image1

Van Schalkwyk SJ, Cloete SWP, Brown CR, Brand Z (2000) Hatching success of ostrich eggs in relation to setting, turning and angle of rotation. British Poultry Science 41, 46–52.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | CAS | PubMed | open url image1

Wilson HR (1991a) Interrelationship of egg size, chick size, posthatching growth and hatchability. World’s Poultry Science Journal 47, 5–20.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | open url image1

Wilson HR (1991b) Effect of egg size on hatchability, chick size and post-hatching growth. In ‘Avian incubation’. (Ed. SG Tullet) pp. 279–283. (Butterworth-Heinemann Ltd: Surrey, UK)

Wilson HR (1996) ‘Incubation and hatching of ratites.’ IFAS Extension. pp. 1–4. (University of Florida: Gainsville, FL)

Wilson HR, Eldred AR, Wilcox CJ (1997) Storage time and ostrich egg hatchability. Applied Poultry Science 6, 216–220. open url image1