SOMITE NUMBER EVOLUTION DURING EARLY EMBRYOGENESIS IN CHICKEN EMBRYOS FROM TRANSYLVANIAN NAKED NECK AND PLYMOUTH ROCK BREEDS

Abstract

In Romania, the Transylvanian Naked Neck hen breed is considered to be an “endangered” population, reason for which we consider that a special attention should have been given until now. Plymouth Rock breed was imported for the first time to Romania from the Studler Company, France in 1969. This paper is aiming to perform a profound analysis of the development patterns of the somite number in the two breeds, by measurements carried out at 26, 30, 40, 50, and 60 hours of incubation. Observations demonstrate that somite forming is carrying on in a similar way as the other embryo complex characteristics following an undulatory curve whose curls are different in the two breeds, but the forming speed during the whole studied period is similar. We estimate that the two breeds have a good combinative capacity, which recommend the utilization of these genetic materials to obtain hybrids for producing “peasant-type” chicken meat, very well-appreciated by the Europeans between the two World Wars.