Hatching success and embryonic mortality on lesser rhea

CHANG REISSIG E.; TERZOLO H.; ARMANDO S.; ROGE A.

BRITISH POULTRY SCIENCE

Taylor & Francis Group

Lugar: Abingdon, Oxfordshire; Año: 2004 vol. 45 p. 471 - 475

0007-1668

1. The hatching success and embryonic mortality of 724 lesser rhea eggs from 12 farms in northern Patagonia, Argentina, were monitored during the 2000 breeding season. 2. Average infertility was 24.5 %, embryonic mortality was 33.5 %, hatchability of fertile eggs was 66.5 %, and the neonatal mortality was 57.0 %. There were large variations between different farms. 3. Bacterial contamination was high and egg hatchability was also affected by the occurrence of oedematous and malformed embryos. 4. No significant correlations were found between embryonic loss and duration of egg storage, egg weight or egg weight loss. 5. The low productivity in lesser rhea farms is not caused only by embryonic mortality but also by a high incidence of infertile eggs and neonatal mortality. 6. Bacterial infection may not have been the most important cause of incubation failure indicating that nutritional deficiencies and inbreeding may play an important role in the productivity of these farms.