Abstract
A complex organism like animals, in order to become alive and perform its ecological niche has to undergo many different morphological changes. Such morphological changes greatly occur during the embryological stage of the animal. It is in the embryological stage of an animal where many environmental factors such as temperature, weight, amount of oxygen, and exposure to light affect the development of the body organs of the animal. It is with this notion about the environmental factors that the researchers have conducted this research to find out whether temperature indeed affects the rate of development of an embryo particularly the duck embryo.
Driven by the objective to find out the effect of temperature to the growth and development of duck egg, the group has undergone rigorous work to come up with results that are written in the succeeding sections of this research.
This research aims to prove that in a living system such as a developing embryo there has to be an optimal temperature that will enable the proliferating cells to continue developing and attaining its supposedly place in the body of a fully developed organism
Introduction
The research conducted used a mallard egg known to have an incubation period of 21 days. Duck eggs share many traits with other vertebrate eggs. Most importantly, every
egg -- whether a microscopic human egg, a frog egg, or a mallard duck egg -- provides the starting point for the development of what will become a complete organism. However, duck eggs, and bird eggs in general, are quite different in form and function from other vertebrate eggs, and these differences dramatically influence the path that development takes for the organism inside. The Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos[1]), also known as the wild duck, is a dabbling duck which breeds throughout the temperate and sub-tropical areas of North America, Europe, Asia, and Australia. Probably the bestknown of all ducks, it gave rise to most domestic ducks, apart from the Muscovy Duck
The researchers used mallard eggs also because of its availability in the locality of the researchers. One light bulb with 40 watts capacity with a temperature of 32 ° C and a hot room with a temperature of 29 °C were used to incubate the duck eggs. The eggs were incubated for 16 days one in each of the two incubators. On the 16th day both of the eggs were dissected and were subjected to study and comparison of structures were also conducted. It is in the difference in the structure that the researchers focused and drew out the data and results that were obtained in the succeeding sections of this research. Photos of the two eggs were taken to show structural differences that are noticeable
At the end of the research the conclusion that was formulated was carefully studied and analyze after undergoing a rigorous work.
Methodology The experiment will compare two (2) domestic mallard ducks (Anas platyrhynchos) eggs with the same weight and is freshly laid. One is put in an improvised incubator and the other is placed on a tray under a room temperature.
A. Materials 1. 2 avian egg (mallard egg) 2. Incubator 3. Egg tray covered with foil. 4. Thermometer B. Procedure Incubation: Get the two (2) duck egg, label it with egg A and egg B. Record its weight and size. Get a box (preferably shoe box) in which the egg can be placed safely with enough space and ventilation. Cut some spaces in all the side of the box to give the egg proper ventilation. Put a cover on the box and also, put a hole on the far -top left side corner of the box. Placed the light bulb on the hole of the cover. This will be the incubator. Place the one of the egg A in an egg tray and place it on the far right corner of the incubator, away from the bulb. Record the temperature on the incubator. Open the light bulb for 20 hours a day from 5 P.M. to 12 Noon. The incubator
temperature must exceed by 5 degrees Celsius to the optimum required temperature, adjust the temperature by extending the distance of the egg to the light bulb. Place the other egg on another egg tray and put it in an open container, place the egg on the room where it can’t be moved. Record the temperature of the room. Observe for 16 days, record the weight. Compare it with weight of the natural incubated egg. Open the eggs and describe each one.
Review of the Related Literature
Many factors are taken into consideration while doing this research and here is the following:
Domesticated Mallard duck – These are the common ducks that is usually called in tagalong terms as itik. These birds incubate their egg for 21 days under a temperature of 37 to 40 degrees Celsius. The weight of egg ranges from 64 to 70 grams. The mallard eggs are the most non – delicate egg for it has a thicker shell and larger chalazae.
Incubator – the incubator used is an improvised one. The egg must be placed far from the light bulb to prevent it from overheating and death. The bulb is not open from 12 noon to
5 P.M. because it’s the hottest time of the day. If ever the temperature drops on that ay opening the bulb can be done.
16- Days observation – during the 16th day incubation period, the embryo inside is almost completely developed but needs few days to complete the period. Opening the egg on the sixteenth day will let the observer to notice difference on the body, yolk residues and yolk sac.
Egg tray – this device will put the egg on placed. It is covered with foil; therefore it is a good conductor of heat and will help to evenly distribute the heat around the egg.
Results and Discussion Table 1. Temperature data Egg
Exposed
Required
Temperature
Temperature
Temperature
Difference (exposed temp. - require
A
Incubator: 42
38 degrees Celsius
temp.) 4 degrees Celsius
B
degrees Celsius. Room temp. : 34
38 degrees Celsius
-4 degrees Celsius
Expected Weight
Weight Difference
degrees Celsius Table 2.1 Weight Difference Egg
Measured Weight
(16th day) A B
(16th Day)
(measured weight –
64 grams 64 grams
expected weight) 1.4 grams - 0.8 grams
Weight on the 1st
Weight on the 16th
Gained weight
day
day
(weight on the 16th
65.4 grams 63.2 grams
Table 2.2 Weight Gained Egg
day – weight on the A B
52.5 grams 52.7 grams
65.4 grams 63.2 grams
1st day) 12.9 grams 10.5 grams
We can notice that there is an exceed of 4 degrees Celsius on egg A and lack of 4 degrees Celsius on egg B(refer to table 1). The result shows that the egg A which is under the incubator has gained much more weight than egg B in which it is under the room temperature, thus the egg A has exceeded Egg B on the final measurement(refer to table 2.1). Egg A has an initial weight of 52.5 grams but reaches 65.4 grams on the 16th day. Egg B has an initial weight of 52.7 grams, notice a much bigger weight than egg A, but it only reaches 63.2 grams, much smaller size than egg A(refer to table 2.2).
Table 3. Description
Egg
Description
A. Under the incubator
The embryo inside egg is large, with complete parts, It is barely moving when opened and it has a single yolk connected on the umbilicus. The embryo is hairy. There
B. Under room temperature
is blood flow when the egg has been opened. The embryo inside the egg B is a bit smaller than egg A. though it is not far from the appearance of egg A, it is noticeable that it has 2- lobed yolk.
Scopes and Limitation Be careful when handling the eggs, movement of the egg might be a factor of the abortion of development of the chicks. Be careful on choosing the place for the eggs, there are bacteria that can affect the development of the egg.
Conclusion There are many environmental factors that could affect the growth and development of an embryo. Factors like pH, rotation of the egg, amount of oxygen, and exposure to light can really affect the development of the duck egg. These factors are not the only ones that can induce or deduce the growth of the duck egg and so with this we may therefore conclude that after 16 days of performing the research with the duck eggs after exposing the eggs in different incubators with different temperature it is clear that temperature indeed affects the rate of development of an embryo. That in order for the embryo to develop normally and healthy optimum temperature has to be met in an area that will serve as incubator, that if this optimal temperature will not be met abnormality and delayed in the rate of development could occur or worse the death of embryo.