Egg quality of laying hens in different conditions of storage, ages and housing densities

Abstract

The objective of this research was to evaluate the quality of eggs from Dekalb White hens under different temperatures (room temperature, 25 °C; and refrigeration, 8 °C), storage times (7, 14 and 21 days), age of birds (35, 40, 45 and 50 weeks) and housing densities (625, 500, 416.6 and 357.14 cm2/birds). Haugh unit (HU) values and albumen height of 1,120 eggs from 528 laying hens, randomly allocated to four groups with different population densities were evaluated. The results showed a significant effect on Haugh units, between the time and storage conditions and between the ages of laying hens and storage condition. Eggs stored in refrigeration showed less weight loss and better Haugh unit indices when compared with eggs stored at room temperature. The increased time of storage, regardless of the temperature, caused loss in their quality. According to the results of this study, based on the evaluation of the albumen height, temperature, storage time, density and age of the layers influence the values of Haugh unit. © 2012 Sociedade Brasileira de Zootecnia.