Seasonal effect on fertility and hatchability of breeder eggs from Marshall Broiler chicken parent stocks kept under hot and humid conditions

This study was conducted to determine the effects of different seasons on fertility and hatchability of breeder eggs from Marshall Broiler parent stocks kept in the derived savanna zone of Southwestern Nigeria. Fertility and hatchability records of a commercial hatchery were extracted from 2015 to 2017. The records were partitioned into four groups: early rainy season (ERS), late rainy season (LRS), early dry season (EDS), and late dry season (LDS) based on the season of the year the records were kept. Records were subjected to Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) in a complete randomized design using the STATA® 15.0 Statistical Software (2015). The Fisher’s Least Significant Differences (LSD) option of the software was used to detect differences between the means at a probability level of 5%. The results showed significantly (p<0.05) the lowest fertility (63.46%) during the LDS with no significant (p>0.05) differences in the trait between ERS, LRS and EDS although it decreased slightly from 92.45 to 92.31 to 87.16% according to the seasons. There were no significant (p>0.05) differences in percentage hatchability of the eggs of Marshall broiler chicken across all the seasons of this study. Percentage hatchability for the seasons were: ERS (80.49%), LRS (88.16%), EDS (79.99%) and LDS (78.59%). The mean fertility and hatchability percentages were 83.42% and 81.29%, respectively. It was concluded that, fertility declined only during the LDS and season had no effect on hatchability of eggs from the Marshall broiler chickens in this study. When measures that mitigate negative effect of increased temperature on hatchability during hot periods of the year are put in place as was done on the farm in this case; all -round optimum day-old chick production should be expected without seasonal changes if eggs from the Marshall broiler chicken are used.