Incubation Factors Affecting Hatchability of Poultry Eggs 2. Some Effects of Carbon Dioxide Upon Morphogenesis

Abstract THE reports of Ells and Morris (1947), Meshew (1949), Stephenson (1950), and Wilgus and Sadler (1954), indicated that ventilation in itself is not adequate under certain conditions to supply the proper amounts of oxygen and carbon dioxide during incubation. Furthermore, Meshew (1949) and Wilgus and Sadler (1954) presented evidence of an interrelationship between CO2 and O2 in their effect on embryonic development. Evidence for this was given earlier by Romanoff (1930) and Romanoff and Romanoff (1933), although the data were complicated by the fact that O2 was not maintained at a constant level as CO2 was increased. Barott (1938) concluded that hatchability decreased as CO2 concentration was increased above 0.5 percent, the lowest level used. The most fundamental approach to this problem was that of Romijn and Roos (1938). Levels of O2 and CO2 available to the embryo in the air cell of the egg were determined throughout the incubation …