The effect of housing system on egg quality of Lohmann white and Czech hen

Abstract

The effect of housing systems (conventional cages and litter) and genotype (Czech hen and Lohmann) on egg quality was investigated. The experiment with 132 laying hens from the 20 to 60 weeks of age was carried out. The totals of 1500 eggs were analysed. A significant interaction between housing system and genotype was found in shape index (P ≤0.001) and eggshell weight (P ≤0.027). The housing system significantly (P <0.001) affected egg weight. Higher values in Czech hen were detected in litter on other hand in Lohmann were found in cage. Higher egg weight (61.18 g vs. 49.19g) and eggshell weight (6.02 g vs. 4.79 g) was found in Lohmann compared to Czech hen. Shape index (76.46 g vs. 75.15g) and deformation (0.31 N vs. 0.29 N) was higher in eggs from Czech hen compared to Lohmann. Significant interaction between housing system and genotype in albumen weight (P ≤0.023), albumen share (P ≤0.018), albumen index (P ≤0.042) and yolk share (P ≤0.034) were detected. Yolk share, yolk index and yolk colour were higher in eggs from Czech hen compared to yolk weight.

Quality of eggs from pasture rearing layers of different genotypes

“…Eggs of the examined native breeds of hens had significantly (p<0.01) more intense coloration of the yolk compared to Tetra SL laying hens in pasture feeding conditions. These results show consistency with the research of Svobodova et al (2014) who examined the quality of Czech hen and Lohmann White eggs, in a cage and floor rearing system, found a significant genotype effect and significantly higher values of egg weight, egg shell weight and better egg white quality of eggs from Lohmann White hens. Contrary to our results, the Czech hen shape index is higher compared to Lohmann White.…”

“…It is known that native breeds of hens accumulate higher fat deposits compared to hybrid layers (Stanišić et al, 2015), which is associated with differences in productivity of these layers (Rizzi and Chiericato, 2010). The more intense coloration of egg yolks of Polish native hens (Sokolowicz et al, 2018) in the free range system compared to hybrid layers from the same systems, as well as Czech hen (Svobodova et al, 2014) in the cage and floor breeding system, confirm the effect of genotype, in accordance with our results, and indicates that this trait of yolk quality is not necessarily related to the availability of pastures, i.e. nutrition.…”

Comparison of egg quality, yolk cholesterol and fatty acid contents of chicken, quail, partridge and pheasant eggs

“…There is a positive relationship between egg weight and body weight (Rahn et al, 1975;Lacin et al, 2008). Egg weight ranges from 60.05 to 67.41 g in chickens (Curtis et al, 1986;Lacin et al, 2008;Svobodova et al, 2014), 20.55 to 22.44 g in partridge (Garip et al, 2010;Caglayan et al, 2014), 10.40 to 13.70 g in quails (Camci et al, 2002;Kumari et al, 2008;Alkan et al, 2010) and 31.00 to 31.80 g in pheasants (Kirikçi et al, 2005;Garip et al, 2010). A greater shape index (P < 0.01) was noticeable in the pheasant egg compared to the other species eggs.…”

A critical review of production factors that influ-ence egg quality traits

“…However, there was no significant (P < 0.05) differences in ESI of eggs from the exotic strains and local types. Tumova et al [45] applied genetic interaction to ascertain the impact of genotype in relation to internal and external egg quality traits in Brown laying strains ISA Brown, Hisex Brown, Bovans Brown and Moravia BSL for over 60 weeks. In experiment 1, egg weight, egg shell and egg thickness were not significant (P < 0.05) whereas, yolk weight, yolk colour, albumen weight, haugh units, yolk/albumen ratio, egg shell strength, egg shell surface, egg shell colour and egg shell index were found to be highly significant (P < 0.05) employing two housing system -cage and litter.…”

“…The authors recommend that lighting intensity should be homogenous among all tiers in multlier caged houses. Tumova et al [45] employed three housing systems (conventional cages, enriched cages and litter) to investigate their effects on egg quality parameters with Isa Brown, Hisex Brown, Bovans brown and Moravia BSL. The results revealed a significant interaction between genotype and housing were found in egg weight (P<0.001), yolk and albumen weight (P<0.001) and yolk colour (P<0.001).…”