Abstract:
Three experiments were conducted in this study. Experiment one aimed to study the effect of poultry breed(Hisex, Sudanese Baladi) and management system (Semi closed and Traditional) on some external and internal egg characteristics.Thestudiedexternal and internal egg characteristics are (egg weight, egg volume, surface area, shell weight, shell thickness, shell index and specific gravity)and (albumen height, albumen weight, Haugh unit, yolk weight, yolk volume and yolk-albumen (%)) respectively.A total of 204 eggs were collected from Hisex birds which are kept under semi closed and traditional system and from Sudanese Baladi raised under traditional system (68 eggs each).Surface area, shell weightand specific gravity were affected by both breed and management system. While egg weight, egg volume and shell thickness were significantly affect by breed, on the other hand shell index was only affected by management system.Internal egg characteristics(albumen height, albumen weight, Haugh unit, yolk weight, and yolk- albumen %) were significantly affected by breed and management system.Yolk volume was significantly affected by breed.Generally the Hisex breed showed higher values of theexternal and internal egg characteristic compared to Sudanese Baladi. The external egg characteristics of the eggs produced under semi closed system showed higher values compared to those raised under traditional system. On the contrary the internal egg characteristics of the birds raised under semi closed system showed lower values compared to those raised under tradition al system. Experiment two aimed to study the effect of poultry breed and management system on the production of immunoglobulin yolk (IgY) and it’s antibacterial effect. In the present study, a total of 24 eggs were collected fromHisex birds which are kept under semi closed and traditional system and from Sudanese Baladi raised under traditional system (8 eggs each).The IgYwas separated from egg yolk byusing modified polyethylene glycol (PEG) precipitation method.The effect of IgYon three bacterial spp. (E. coli, Staphylococcus and Pseudomonas) was studied. The results revealed that, the breed had significant effect on egg weight, yolk volume, IgY concentrate (mg/g-egg) and (mg/ml-yolk), on the other hand the management systemhad significanteffect on egg weight and (IgY) concentrate (mg/g-egg).Generally, the growth of all bacterial spp. studied (E. coli, Staphylococcus and Pseudomonas) was inhibited irrespective of the breed and management system.Experiment three was conducted to study the effect of feeding different levels of egg yolk powder (0.0, 0.2 and 0.4%)on broiler performance. Ninety chicks (Ross) were randomly distributed into 15 replicate (5/treatment) of 6 chicks each.The result showed a significant effect of feeding different levels egg yolk powder on broiler chicken performance during the starter period (feed intake, body weight, weight gain and feed conversion rate).While during the finisher period a significant effect was only obtained in feed intake and feed conversion rate. Birds fed higher levels of egg yolk powdershowed higher performance.