Efficacy of tertiary egg membranes as calcium zones for embryonic development in poultry breeds
Abstract Background Growth and production of any animal husbandry including poultry depends on early development, growth, feeding, environmental and other factors. Early and later embryonic development forms a significant parameter in poultry production, during which human or technological intervention is practically impossible. Results Embryonic development is governed by very many internal factors among which, egg calcium utilization is of prime importance. An experiment was set up to investigate the egg calcium utilization of different poultry breeds at its embryonic development. Four breeds of locally available chicken ( Gallus gallus domesticus ), Broiler, Common domestic variety ( Nadan ), Vanaraja and Gramapriya breeds were selected and embryonic egg utilization was assessed by comparing calcium content of egg shell before and after hatching and found out that Vanaraja breed utilizes maximum (0.20gm) and significantly (P < 0.01) higher quantity egg shell calcium for embryonic development followed by Local breed (0.16gm) and least used variety was Broiler breed (0.09gm). Conclusions The study highlighted the criticality of the composition of the specific mineral in the calcium zones for embryonic utilization underlining the importance of its only source through food.