GENOTYPE EFFECTS ON EGG QUALITY PARAMETERS

This study was performed to compare morphological egg quality parameters in brown and white laying hen hybrids. Eggs (n= 90 from Lohman Brown and n= 90 from Lohman White at age of 42 weeks old) were obtained from a commercial poultry company raising laying hens in a multi-tier cage system. Egg quality parameters were analysed using one-way ANOVA considering statistical significance at P < 0.05. Except for shape and yolk indexes, other egg quality parameters did not differ by the hybrid (Table 1). Eggs from Lohman Brown had higher shape (77.74 vs. 74.53%) and yolk (4.19 vs. 3.97%) indexes than eggs from Lohman White. In summary, egg quality parameters for brown and white eggs are similar as long as hens are in the same age and are subjected to the same managerial production protocol.