Study of egg quality traits in Vanaraja male line (PD-1)

Introduction

Poultry eggs and meat are cost-effective and widely accessible sources of high-quality protein for humans. Among the various economically important poultry species, chickens are particularly valuable as they provide both nutrient rich eggs and protein dense meat. In backyard poultry systems, analyzing egg quality is essential for maintaining food safety, ensuring optimal nutritional value, and promoting economic sustainability. Unlike commercial farms that operate under controlled and standardized conditions, backyard setups tend to be more variable and less regulated. As a result, regular assessment of egg quality becomes a practical and valuable tool for optimizing egg production, monitoring flock health, and enhancing overall management efficiency.

Material and Methods

Location of the study: The experiment was conducted at ICAR-Directorate of Poultry Research, Hyderabad, Telangana, India. A total of 401 eggs were collected from the four hatches at 40 weeks of age (five consecutive days) and various external and internal egg quality traits were estimated. The external characters like egg weight, length and width were measured. Thereafter the eggs were broken and the internal traits like yolk weight, colour, height, albumin weight were recorded using standard procedure. Egg weight, haugh unit, albumin height and yolk colour were measured using egg quality tester (EMT 5200, Japan). The shells of the broken eggs were dried at room temperature to further measure the shell weight and shell thickness. The average egg weight was calculated based on freshly collected eggs from farm individually and the weight was measured to the precision of 0.5 g. Shape index was measured based on the longest length and largest width of each of the eggs was measured (mm) using digital Vernier calipers to the accuracy of 0.1 mm. Yolk colour of each egg was scored by using egg quality tester (EMT 5200, Japan). Yolk weight was recorded for each egg after separating albumen using digital balance to the accuracy of 0.5 g then computing average yolk weight. Albumen weight was recorded for each egg after separating yolk using digital balance to the accuracy of 0.5 g then computing average yolk weight. Haugh Unit score (HU) was computed by using Ames micrometer. The haugh unit score was computed as per the following formula: HU = 100 log (H + 7.57-1.7W0.37) Where H is the albumen height in millimeters and W is the weight of the egg in grams. The shell membrane was removed from the shells and the shells were dried at room temperature. Thereafter the weight was recorded individually closest to 0.1 g accuracy. The shell thickness was measured by using a shell thickness machine (mitutoyo no.7301) with precision of 0.01 mm, at three spots on the shell-one at the broader end, second at the narrow end and third at center, and average of these was considered as the mean shell thickness.

Statistical analysis

The data were analyzed using least squares technique (Harvey, 1990) to know the effect of hatch on the traits studied. Mean and standard error of egg quality traits was estimated by using SPSS Computer software package The statistical model for least-squares analysis was Yijk=µ + hi + sj + eijk Where, Yijk=measurement of a trait on k th bird belonging to i th hatch and j th sex µ=overall mean, hi= effect of i th hatch sj= effect of j th sex, eijk= random error

Results and Discussion

ANOVA for effect of hatch on egg quality traits are presented in Table 1 and2. All egg quality traits were measured on eggs obtained from birds at 40 weeks of age. Significant difference (p≤0.05) in haugh unit, shell weight and shell thickness, high significant difference (p≤0.01) in albumen weight and very high significant difference (p≤0.001) in egg weight, yolk colour, yolk weight, except shape index were observed among four hatches (Table 3 and4). The overall least squares mean of egg weight in the present study was 56.94±0.21 g and varying from 55.82±0.28 to 58.89±0.52 g (Table 3). Similar values were reported by Niranjan et al. (2008) [10] , Kundu et al. (2015) [8] and Padhi et al. (2015) [12] in Vanaraja and PD1. Slightly lower values among improved varieties were reported by Haunshi et al. (2009) [2] and Padhi et al. (2015) [12] in Vanaraja and PD1 line. Higher values were reported by Kalita et al. (2012) [7] in PD1 x IWI x PD3 cross and Vanaraja. The overall least squares mean of Shape index was 76.61±0.22 varying from 76.31±0.34 to 76.80±0.38 among hatches (Table 3). Similar trends were reported in literature for Gramapriya (Haunshi et al., 2009) [2] ; Kadaknath (Haunshi et al., 2011) [3] ; Gramapriya (Patel et al., 2013) [13] ; Ghagus and PD4 cross (Haunshi et al., 2015) [4] and Vanaraja male line (Padhi et al., 2015) [12] . Similarly Higher values were reported by Niranjan et al. (2008) [10] in C1 cross. The yolk colour in Vanaraja male line (PD-1) population varied from 7.30±0.09 to 8.27±0.18 with an overall least squares mean of 7.58±0.06 (Table 3). The present findings were in agreement with the reports of Niranjan et al. (2008) [10] in (C1, C2 cross and Gramapriya). Lower values were reported by 103 Padhi et al. (2015) [12] in PD1. Whereas, Niranjan et al. (2008) [10] reported higher values than the mean values obtained in the present study. The overall least squares mean of yolk weight and albumen weight recorded in the present study were 17.38±0.07 and 30.53±0.16 g and the corresponding ranges were 17.10±0.17 to 18.05±0.14 g and 30.00±0.21 to 32.00±0.54 g, respectively (Table 3 and4). Similar values were reported by Malik and Singh (2010) [9] in CARI Nirbheek and Kundu et al. (2015) [8] in BrN x Van cross. While Chatterjee et al. (2007) [1] and Haunshi et al. (2011) [3] reported lower values, with respect to albumin, which was comparable with reports by Sreenivas et al. (2013) [17] . Slightly higher values among improved varieties were reported by Niranjan et al. (2008) [10] and lower values were reported by Chatterjee et al. (2007) [1] , Haunshi et al. (2011) [3] and Kundu et al. (2015) [8] . The overall least squares mean of haugh unit, a measure of albumin quality was found to be 84.88±0.49 and the corresponding ranges were 82.12±1.65 to 85.51±0.67 (Table 4), which was comparable to the reports by Padhi et al. (2013) [11] in PD1 line and was higher than mean values reported by Haunshi et al. (2011) [3] in Aseel and Kadaknath, Sreenivas et al. (2013) [17] in strains of WLH and Jha et al. (2013) [5,6] . While the present estimates were lower than the values reported by Kundu et al. (2015) [8] and Rath et al. (2015) [15] in Van x BrN and WLH, respectively. The overall least squares mean of shell thickness was found to be 0.32±0.01 mm and varied from 0.32±0.02 to 0.33±0.03 (Table 4), which was comparable with reported values for PD1 (Padhi et al., 2013 and Padhi et al., 2015) [11,12] ; Gramapriya (Jha and Prasad, 2013) [5,6] ; Kadaknath (Jha et al., 2013) [5,6] ; BN x Van (Kundu et al., 2015) [8] and WLH (Rath et al., 2015) [15] . While Rayan et al. (2015) [16] and Rajaravindra et al. (2015) reported slightly higher shell thickness values in RIR, Bahig, Matrouh and PB2 genotypes. The overall least squares mean of shell weight recorded in the present study was 5.07±0.11 g and ranged from 4.83±0.03 to 5.73±0.59 g (Table 4), which was in close comparison with strains of IWK reported by Sreenivas et al. (2013) [17] but was lower than the reported values in backyard varieties, their crosses and exotic breeds (Kundu et al., 2015 and Rayan et al., 2015) [8,16] . These differences are expected as shell weight depends on egg weight which in turn depends on genotype and nutritional background of their stock.

Conclusion

The egg quality traits observed in the Vanaraja male line at 40 weeks of age are optimal for maximizing the production of high-quality chicks per hen, thereby contributing to improved economic returns for farmers.

References

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