Chang-Ho Kim
Jong-Ho Song
Jae-Cheong Lee
Kyung-Woo Lee
Department of Animal Science and Technology, College of Animal Bioscience and Technology,
Konkuk University, 120 Neungdong-ro, Gwangjin-gu, Seoul-143-701, South Korea
ABSTRACT
The present study was conducted to monitor age-related changes in egg quality during the entire production cycle of laying hens. Thirty eggs were sampled from the commercial farm on a weekly basis for egg analysis. In order to increase in confidence in sampling, farm personnel were educated to collect the eggs from the pre-determined cages during the whole period and all layers were subjected to an identical farm management and fed a commercial layer diet. In total, 1,470 eggs were sampled and transported to the laboratory of Korea Institute for Animal Products Quality Evaluation. The parameters for egg quality included egg weight, eggshell color, eggshell breaking strength, eggshell thickness, Haugh unit and yolk color. It was shown that egg weight increased as the hen aged. Eggshell breaking strength gradually decreased, but eggshell thickness was randomly scattered without showing any age-related trends during the laying period. The intensity of eggshell color kept relatively constant while yolk color increased with age. Finally, Haugh unit as an indicator of freshness of eggs was consistently decreased as the hens aged. In this study, we noticed that eggshell breaking strength and egg weight were negatively correlated (r= - 0.500, p<0.001). Eggshell color did not significantly correlate with eggshell thickness (r = -0.074, p>0.50), but marginally and positively correlated with egg weight (r = 0.248, p = 0.082). It is concluded that among the various egg quality parameters analyzed, egg weight, eggshell breaking strength or Haugh unit reduced as the hens aged. Further study is needed to include various parameters of egg quality such as chemical or nutritional composition which will provide more insight into the age-mediated changes in egg quality.
PDF References Citation
How to cite this article
Chang-Ho Kim, Jong-Ho Song, Jae-Cheong Lee and Kyung-Woo Lee, 2014. Age-Related Changes in Egg Quality of Hy-Line Brown Hens. International Journal of Poultry Science, 13: 510-514.
DOI: 10.3923/ijps.2014.510.514
URL: https://scialert.net/abstract/?doi=ijps.2014.510.514
DOI: 10.3923/ijps.2014.510.514
URL: https://scialert.net/abstract/?doi=ijps.2014.510.514
REFERENCES
- Grobas, S., J. Mendez, C. de Blas and G.G. Mateos, 1999. Laying hen productivity as affected by energy, supplemental fat and linoleic acid concentration of the diet. Poult. Sci., 78: 1542-1551.
CrossRefDirect Link - Grobas, S., J. Mendez, C. de Blas and G.G. Mateos, 1999. Influence of dietary energy, supplemental fat and linoleic acid concentration on performance of laying hens at two ages. Br. Poult. Sci., 40: 681-687.
CrossRefDirect Link - Haugh, R.R., 1937. The haugh unit for measuring egg quality. US. Egg Poult. Mag., 43: 552-573.
Direct Link - Keshavarz, K., 2003. Effects of reducing dietary protein, methionine, choline, folic acid and vitamin B12 during the late stages of the egg production cycle on performance and eggshell quality. Poult. Sci., 82: 1407-1414.
CrossRefDirect Link - Lang, M.R. and J.W. Wells, 1987. A review of eggshell pigmentation. World's Poult. Sci. J., 43: 238-246.
CrossRefDirect Link - Novak, C., H. Yakout and S. Scheideler, 2004. The combined effects of dietary lysine and total sulfur amino acid level on egg production parameters and egg components in Dekalb Delta laying hens. Poult. Sci., 83: 977-984.
CrossRefPubMedDirect Link - Odabasi, A.Z., R.D. Miles, M.O. Balaban and K.M. Portier, 2007. Changes in brown eggshell color as the hen ages. Poult. Sci., 86: 356-363.
CrossRefDirect Link - Safaa, H.M., M.P. Serrano, D.G. Valencia, X. Arbe, E. Jimenez-Moreno, R. Lazaro and G.G. Mateos, 2008. Effects of the levels of methionine, linoleic acid, and added fat in the diet on productive performance and egg quality of brown laying hens in the late phase of production. Poult. Sci., 87: 1595-1602.
CrossRef - Shim, M.Y., E. Song, L. Billard, S.E. Aggrey, G.M. Pesti and P. Sodsee, 2013. Effects of balanced dietary protein levels on egg production and egg quality parameters of individual commercial layers. Poult. Sci., 92: 2687-2696.
CrossRefDirect Link - Waldroup, P.W. and H.M. Hellwig, 1995. Methionine and total sulfur amino acid requirements influenced by stage of production. J. Applied Poult. Res., 4: 283-292.
CrossRefDirect Link - Zita, L., Z. Ledvinka, E. Tumova and L. Klesalova, 2009. Technological quality of eggs in relation to the age of laying hens and Japanese quails. Revista Brasileira Zootecnia, 41: 2079-2084.
CrossRefDirect Link