Table 4.
Comparison of egg quality between two groups of Dwarf Layer-White across age.
| Traits/age | 75 week | 79 week | 83 week | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Translucent | Opaque | Translucent | Opaque | Translucent | Opaque | |
| Translucent grade | 3.17 ± 0.72a | 2.43 ± 0.67b | 3.07 ± 0.75a | 2.43 ± 0.64b | 2.77 ± 0.72a | 2.26 ± 0.74b |
| Egg weight (g) | 56.87 ± 3.63 | 55.70 ± 5.12 | 57.94 ± 4.97 | 56.82 ± 6.22 | 57.78 ± 5.81 | 57.98 ± 5.52 |
| Water loss rate (%) | 1.92 ± 0.51 | 1.74 ± 0.42 | 1.16 ± 0.33 | 1.23 ± 0.30 | 2.11 ± 0.67 | 1.88 ± 0.49 |
| Egg shape index | 1.36 ± 0.05 | 1.36 ± 0.51 | 1.39 ± 0.52 | 1.36 ± 0.45 | 1.35 ± 0.06 | 1.34 ± 0.07 |
| Eggshell strength (N) | 31.45 ± 7.94 | 32.78 ± 4.64 | 31.74 ± 6.97 | 31.56 ± 6.95 | 28.22 ± 6.89 | 26.65 ± 6.72 |
| Eggshell thickness (μm) | 316.06 ± 28.34 | 316.69 ± 32.51 | 310.91 ± 26.00 | 316.04 ± 26.82 | 307.60 ± 26.88 | 312.50 ± 27.49 |
| Eggshell membrane thickness (μm) | 11.68 ± 3.15a | 14.32 ± 4.70b | 13.83 ± 5.24 | 13.68 ± 3.78 | 9.78 ± 2.73a | 12.52 ± 4.59b |
| Eggshell weight (g) | 7.32 ± 0.46 | 7.05 ± 0.53 | 7.25 ± 0.55 | 7.35 ± 0.68 | 7.02 ± 0.67 | 7.06 ± 0.56 |
| Eggshell proportion (%) | 12.79 ± 0.60 | 12.73 ± 1.12 | 12.25 ± 0.99 | 12.49 ± 0.82 | 11.93 ± 1.00 | 12.09 ± 0.99 |
| Haugh unit | 79.55 ± 5.16 | 80.17 ± 3.32 | 77.42 ± 5.55 | 76.38 ± 3.66 | 80.14 ± 5.61 | 81.07 ± 4.68 |
| Egg white weight (g) | 32.17 ± 3.73 | 30.81 ± 3.62 | 32.27 ± 4.20 | 31.61 ± 4.19 | 31.21 ± 4.73 | 31.40 ± 3.47 |
| Yolk color | 9.17 ± 1.14 | 9.52 ± 1.31 | 10.60 ± 0.87a | 11.22 ± 0.90b | 10.00 ± 0.96 | 9.86 ± 0.99 |
| Yolk weight (g) | 17.02 ± 1.35 | 16.87 ± 1.46 | 17.82 ± 1.42 | 17.13 ± 1.81 | 18.51 ± 1.91 | 18.00 ± 1.55 |
All values are mean ± standard deviation. a, bWithin each row, means values with different letters indicate statistical differences between translucent groups and opaque groups of the same week (P < 0.05).