Effects of maternal nutrition on hatchability.

The effects of dietary factors on the development and viability of avian embryos have been extensively documented. A good nutritional status of the parent birds is crucial to the transfer to the egg of an adequate, balanced supply of nutrients required for normal development of the embryo. The consequences to the embryo may be lethal if the egg contains either inadequate, excessive, or imbalanced levels of nutrients. As nutritional deficiencies or excesses occur, it is common for the effects on the embryo to also become more severe and to occur at earlier stages of development. The type of nutritional stress signs visible in the embryo often depend upon the severity of the maternal nutritional stress. Diseases, parasitic infections, toxins, poisons, or drugs may also cause nutritional or pseudonutritional problems with hatchability.