A Comparison of Candling Eggs With Other Methods of Determining Internal Egg Quality

Abstract

The eggs from 23 strains of White Leghorns were used to study different internal egg quality measurements. Twenty-five eggs from each of the strains were candled by three experienced persons the day after the eggs were laid. After candling, the eggs were broken-out, and internal quality was determined by U.S.D.A. scores, Haugh units, albumen height and yolk index. The entire experiment was repeated using seven-day old eggs. Correlations were run on all of the strains for each of the internal quality measurements.There appears to be a high correlation between such measurements as U.S.D.A. scores and albumen height, U.S.D.A. scores and Haugh units, and albumen height and Haugh units. Candling did not appear to correlate with any of the other measurements of internal egg quality. There was a poor correlation between yolk index and other measurements. The “r” values on all of the measurements varied considerably among the twenty-three strains.Analysis of variance was used to detect differences among the candlers. The results show that there was a highly significant difference among the individuals who candled the eggs.