Effect of chronic hypoxia during the early stage of incubation on prenatal and postnatal parameters related to ascites syndrome in broiler chickens

To investigate the influence of hypoxia during the early stage of incubation on embryonic developmentand hatching events, and consequently on incidence of ascites in broiler chickens, one thousand fertile eggswere incubated in two commercial incubators. Half the eggs were incubated in a low altitude incubator untilhatched. The second half were incubated in a high altitude incubator until day 10 and then transferred to alow altitude incubator. Day-old chicks from each group were housed and reared at a high altitude farm.Chicks from the high altitude incubator hatched earlier and showed significantly higher body weights thantheir counterparts in the lower altitude. High altitude embryos indicated significantly (P