AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH COMMUNICATION CENTRE www.arccjournals.com/www.ijaronline.in *Corresponding author’s e-mail: drmaatnvasu@yahoo.com. Indian J. Anim. Res., 49 (6) 2015:847-850 Print ISSN:0367-6722 / Online ISSN:0976-0555 Reproductive performance of Beltsville small White and Broad Breasted Bronze Turkeys (Meleagris gallopavo) under hot humid climatic condition M. Anna Anandh* and P.N. Richard Jagatheesan Tamil Nadu Veterinary and Animal Sciences University, Regional Research Centre, Pudukkottai-622 004, India. Received: 15-06-2014 Accepted: 19-03-2015 DOI: 10.18805/ijar.7049 ABSTRACT The study was conducted to compare the reproductive performance of Beltsville Small White and Broad Breasted Bronze turkeys (Meleagris gallopavo) under the hot humid climatic condition. Beltsville Small White and Broad Breasted Bronze turkeys were raised in an intensive production system under standard management practices. A total of 560 Beltsville Small White turkey eggs and 520 Broad Breasted Bronze turkey eggs were used for this study. Average egg weight (g), infertile eggs (%), early embryonic mortality (%), late embryonic mortality (%), dead in shell (%) and poults hatched weight (g) were significantly (P>0.01) higher in Broad Breasted Bronze turkeys as compared to Beltsville Small White turkeys. The total hatchability (%), fertile egg hatchability (%) and poults survivability (%) were (P>0.01) significantly higher in Beltsville Small White turkeys as compared to Broad Breasted Bronze turkeys. Non significantly higher fertility percentage was observed in Beltsville Small White turkeys as compared to Broad Breasted Bronze turkeys. It is concluded that Beltsville Small White turkeys are more suitable to obtain better reproductive performance under hot humid climate condition followed by Broad Breasted Bronze turkeys. Key words: Beltsville small white, Broad breasted bronze, Egg weight, Fertility, Hatchability, Poults, Turkey. INTRODUCTION Turkey (Meleagris gallopavo) occupies an important position next to chicken, duck, guinea fowl and quail. Turkey farming is very popular in western countries and is in infancy in India. At present turkey farming is gaining attention in India and is getting popular fast in southern regions as well, but yet to be exploited with proper scientific approaches. There are three varieties of turkey commonly available in India. They are Broad breasted bronze, Broad breasted white and Beltsville small white. One of the main objectives in turkey production is to increase the number of poults produced. It was reported that egg yield, egg fertility and hatchability were usually lower compared to that in other poultry species and successful turkey breeding primarily requires the determination of factors that affect hatchability. The production cost of poults can be lowered by increasing egg yield, fertilization capacity and hatchability. In addition, low egg yield, unsatisfactory egg fertility and hatchability constitute a major problem for breeding enterprises (Ozcelik et al., 2009). Fertility and hatchability are the major determinant of profitability in the hatchery enterprise (Peters et al., 2008). These parameters appear to be very important as far as parent stocks are kept to produce final hybrids. Hatchability is a complex age dependent trait. It has been reported that the hatchability of medium sized turkey eggs is better than that of small or large eggs (Brunson and Godfrey, 1953). It has been determined that heavy eggs have a higher last-phase-death-rate in broilers than lighter eggs (Reinhart and Hurnik, 1984; Ogunshile and Sparks, 1995). The same phenomenon has been observed in turkey eggs (Reinhart and Moran, 1979). Therefore, turkey breeding programmes are searching for ways of increasing the number of poults by increasing the number of eggs for hatching produced by each turkey. The reproductive performance of available turkey varieties should be studied as they will be used in the production system for better performance. This study was therefore conducted to compare the fertility, hatchability and associated traits among Beltsville Small White and Broad Breasted Bronze Turkeys under hot humid climatic condition of Tamil Nadu. MATERIALS AND METHODS Experimental birds and management: The study was conducted at Turkey Research Unit of Tamil Nadu Veterinary and Animal Sciences University - Regional Research Centre, Pudukkottai, Tamil Nadu, India. Beltsville Small White and Broad Breasted Bronze turkeys were raised in an intensive