Table 5.

Effect of dietary 25-OH-D₃ on egg quality of laying hens under high or low stocking density¹.

Item	Eggshell color			Eggshell strength, kg/cm3	Eggshell thickness, mm−2	Eggshell relative weight, %	Yolk relative weight, %	Yolk color	Albumen height, mm	Haugh unit
	L*	a*	b*
Density25-OH-D3
Low−	82.35 ± 0.33b	6.51 ± 0.19a	17.21 ± 0.31a	4.37 ± 0.11	40.88 ± 0.07a	11.25 ± 0.61	28.46 ± 0.76	13.33 ± 0.76	7.14 ± 0.09	82.94 ± 1.98
Low+	82.07 ± 0.29b	6.47 ± 0.21a,b	17.93 ± 0.29a	4.27 ± 0.21	39.63 ± 0.04a	11.24 ± 0.48	28.38 ± 0.54	13.41 ± 0.11	7.07 ± 0.11	82.55 ± 0.97
High−	83.23 ± 0.22a	5.56 ± 0.27c	16.30 ± 0.37b	4.05 ± 0.28	36.73 ± 0.08b	10.85 ± 0.55	28.07 ± 0.66	13.30 ± 0.27	7.13 ± 0.27	82.66 ± 0.87
High+	82.25 ± 0.43b	6.02 ± 0.18b,c	17.46 ± 0.19a	4.11 ± 0.17	37.63 ± 0.05b	11.07 ± 0.87	27.47 ± 0.57	13.27 ± 0.55	7.08 ± 0.32	82.37 ± 1.49
SEM	0.35	0.24	0.38	0.15	0.06	0.63	0.50	0.15	0.21	1.38
P-value	<0.01	<0.01	<0.01	0.12	<0.01	<0.01	0.18	0.82	0.98	0.98
Main effect P-value
Density	0.04	<0.01	0.04	0.04	<0.01	0.01	0.08	0.46	0.86	0.92
25-OH-D3	0.04	0.22	<0.01	0.92	0.79	0.25	0.37	0.84	0.57	0.63
Density*25-OH-D3	0.16	0.13	0.42	0.49	0.01	0.25	0.50	0.62	0.84	0.86

^a-bMeans with different superscripts within a column differ significantly (P < 0.05).

Abbreviation: 25-OH-D₃, 25-hydroxycholecalciferol.

¹Each mean represents 10 replicates per treatment, with 30 eggs per replicate.