Study on Egg Quality Characteristics of Three Commercial Layer Strains under Different Storage Conditions

Abstract

A study was conducted with the objectives to determine the quality characteristics of egg of three commercial strains under different storage conditions. For this purpose, a total of 270 eggs of 3 different types of layer strain named Shuvra (S) or BLRI Layer-1, ISA brown (IB) and Bob white (BW) were collected from 3 small-scale commercial poultry farms at the age of 55 weeks. The eggs were stored for 0, 3 and 7 days at room temperature (20-25 0 C) during the month of October. The egg weight, shell weight, shell thickness, egg width and egg length were studied as external egg quality and the albumen height, albumen width, yolk weight, yolk height were studied as internal egg quality. The study revealed that eggs of Shuvra had higher egg yolk and shell weight (P<0.01) than other eggs while the albumen height was found almost similar in all the hens eggs (P>0.05). The albumen height (P<0.05) and length (P<0.01) were also found higher in Shuvra eggs compared to other eggs at all storage periods. The yolk and shell quality of Shuvra eggs were also found better than all other eggs in different storage periods (P<0.01). It was also observed that the major egg quality traits like albumin height, length, Haugh unit and yolk quality were significantly P<0.001) affected with increasing storage length. The results of the present study suggested that Shuvra egg deserve the better quality for the preference of both the traders and consumers.