Assessment of egg quality parameters in Himsamridhi chicken variety under intensive housing in Himachal Pradesh Dinesh Krishanender*, Sankhyan V., Thakur D., Kumar R., Katoch S., Singh G. Department of Animal Genetics and Breeding, DGCN COVAS, CSKHPKV, Palampur, Himachal Pradesh-176062, India *Corresponding author Email: krishanender25@gmail.com
Online Published on 15 January, 2024. Abstract The present study was carried on Himsamridhi chicken variety to assess the effect of age on egg quality traits. A total of 300 eggs were collected for studying the external and internal egg quality parameters at different age groups i.e. 24, 30, 36, 44 and 50 weeks. Most of the egg quality traits differed (P<0.05) significantly at different age of measurements. Egg weight increased as the age of bird advanced and varied from 40.35±0.89 g at 24 week of age to 51.85±0.64 g at 50 week of age. Length, width and height of albumen increases as the age of bird progresses. Albumin index was found to be significantly (P<0.05) higher at 24 weeks of age. The yolk index found to be significantly (P<0.05) higher at 36 week of age. Albumen and yolk percentage varied from 57.76 to 60.01 % and 29.87 to 31.95 % respectively at different ages of measurements. Haugh unit index was observed to be significantly higher at 24 weeks of age and ranged from 82.93 to 88.78 indicating uniform internal egg quality over the age. Correlation coefficient of egg weight with egg length, egg width, albumen length, albumen width and yolk width were positive. Shell percentage and Haugh unit was negatively correlated with egg weight at 30, 44 and 50 weeks of age. The result reveals significant variation in egg quality parameters with different age of measurements. Top Keywords Egg quality, Egg weight, Himsamridhi, Haugh unit, Shape index. Top |