Morphometric characterization and reproductive potential of Mexican Creole chicken’s eggs (Gallus gallus domesticus) intended for artificial incubation

Abstract

The Creole Mexican chickens present a wide variation of their morphometric characteristics that go from the shape of the bird to the shape, weight, and size of the eggs they lay, offering different biological-productive values. This research consisted of describing the morphometric parameters of their eggs, and their reproductive potential under artificial incubation. For this, 2,778 eggs were collected from an experimental population of the Colegio de Postgraduados, Campus Montecillo, of which the measures corresponding to the macrostructure were recorded and were studied through multivariate cluster analysis. 2,671 eggs were placed for artificial incubation, distributed in eight blocks, and their development was described by embryodiagnostic analysis. As a result of the cluster, a dendrogram with three groups was obtained, group 2 grouped most of the data and could be considered as the morphometric standard with average measurements of weight = 55.96 g, length = 5.72 cm, width = 4.18 cm, egg shape index = 73, volume = 51.09 cm3, area 67.48 cm2 and color on the Zinpro® scale = 5. A fertility percentage of 76.46% and a birth percentage of 21.61% were achieved through artificial incubation.