The aim of this study was to investigate some physical properties of ostrich egg, including eggshell porosity, dimensional and gravimetric properties which were nondestructively measured to find any probable correlation between these properties and egg fertility. Currently one of the blockade problems in ostrich egg production industry is the impossibility of egg candling prior to hatching. Therefore, fractions of the hatcher are occupied by infertile eggs and soon fall to decay without any economical use. Totally 301 eggs were sampled during three consecutive weeks of June. The results showed overall, about 63% of the eggs were fertile and among these eggs, 7% were not hatched successfully. No significant correlation observed between physical properties of eggs and fertility. However, the data analysis on frequency of fertile and infertile eggs of different categorized properties indicated that some groups of eggs might have a higher fertile eggs frequency than infertile eggs. In general, the groups of eggs with aspect ratio about 1.2, weight of 1500 g, density of 1.15 g cm -3 and average shell pore diameter of less than 750 μm had a higher fertile egg frequency than infertile egg frequency. On the other hand, egg volume and dielectric properties had the least impact on egg fertility. Image processing of the eggshell pigment and thermal photography are recommended for further investigations.

Keywords