dc.description.abstract | Arab chicken is one of the most favorite local layer chicken developed in Indonesia due to their high productivities. The egg qualities are highly influenced by the hen age. Somitogenesis is an early step in chick embryo development. The data of somite development on chick embryo is very limited, especially in Arab chicken. Therefore this research aimed to analyze the influence of hen breeder age on formation of somites. There were 99 eggs from 36, 42, and 54 weeks of hen age will be used in this study. The embryo samples were harvested in 24, 33, and 48 hours after incubation. The Complete Randomized Design was used to analyze exterior and interior of egg qualities such as the egg weight, egg shape index, shell weight and shell thickness. The number of somites will be analyzed descriptively. The results show that hen age had effect significantly the egg weight and the shell thickness (P<0,05). Hen age did not affect the egg shape index and the shell weight (P>0,05). There were died embryos from hen age of 54 weeks (22%) and 42 weeks (15,38%). The embryo from 42 week of hen age developed slower (15,38%) than embryo from 36 and 54 weeks. | en |