Table 3.
Effect of body weight categories on egg quality traits of commercial layers
| Parameters | Body weight | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
| ||||
| Light | Medium | Heavy | p-value | |
| Egg quality at 20 week age | ||||
| EW (g) | 41.70±0.42b | 42.64±0.26b | 43.64±0.42a | 0.0004 |
| ESG | 1.10±0.00 | 1.09±0.00 | 1.08±0.00 | 0.7022 |
| EBS (N) | 46.55±3.36 | 44.44±0.96 | 42.19±0.68 | 0.1851 |
| EST (mm) | 0.43±0.01a | 0.38±0.01b | 0.38±0.01b | 0.0007 |
| ESW (g) | 7.12±0.04c | 7.32±0.02b | 7.42±0.02a | <0.0001 |
| HU | 91.87±2.10a | 90.79±1.10b | 84.82±1.31c | 0.0001 |
| YI (%) | 46.43±0.74a | 45.30±0.25a | 37.22±0.20b | <0.0001 |
| Egg quality at 50 week age | ||||
| EW (g) | 51.28±0.29c | 58.20±0.33b | 62.82±0.44a | <0.0001 |
| ESG | 1.09±0.01a | 1.08±0.01b | 1.08±0.02b | 0.0006 |
| EBS(N) | 36.58±1.22 | 37.93±2.20 | 40.46±0.76 | 0.2262 |
| EST (mm) | 0.38±0.01b | 0.37±0.01b | 0.40±0.01a | 0.0003 |
| ESW (g) | 7.24±0.02c | 7.46±0.02b | 7.56±0.02a | <0.0001 |
| HU | 91.77±0.73a | 89.75±1.14b | 88.80±0.39b | 0.0122 |
| YI (%) | 34.63±0.37c | 40.06±0.52b | 44.42±0.65a | <0.0001 |
EW, egg weight; ESG, egg specific gravity; EBS, egg breaking strength; EST, eggshell thickness; ESW, eggshell weight; HU, Haugh unit; YI, yolk index.
a–c
Means within a row with different superscripts differ (p≤0.05).