Normal Development and Hatchability of Korean Oge Chickens in White Leghorn Surrogate Eggshells

Abstract

The avian embryos have been used as a good model to study embryonic development. Due to its uniquedevelopment in the eggshell, avian embryos can be cultured and hatch in the surrogate eggshell system. In this study, weexamined the viability, normal development and hatchability of Korean Oge (KO) chicken embryos in White Leghorn (WL)surrogate eggshells. Donor KO embryos at 3-day and 4-day-old were transferred into recipient WL eggshells, incubated forfurther 18 days at 37.5℃ with 70% of humidity until hatching. The viability of 3-day-old KO embryos at 7, 14 and 21 dayin surrogate eggshell were 70.0%, 43.8% and 23.1%, respectively. In contrast, the viability of 4-day-old KO embryos at 7,14 and 21 day in surrogate eggshells were 87.1%, 55.6% and 36.0%, respectively. The hatchability of KO embryos transferredinto surrogate eggshells at 3-day-old was 23.1%, whereas embryos transferred at 4-day-old was 36.0%. Furthermore, thedevelopment of all viable embryos from 3-day group and 4-day group were normal. Our results suggested that culture of KOembryos in WL surrogate eggshells is highly possible, and transfer of donor embryos at 4-day-old may yield higher percentageof hatchability. This study may provide potential knowledge for the conservation of wild and endangered birds throughsurrogate system.