Abstract
A total of 227 eggs were collected during summer 2013 from Isa Brown (IB), Bovan Brown (BB) and Potchefstroom Koekoek (PK) chickens for comparative study of internal and external egg quality traits under intensive and village production systems in East Shewa, Ethiopia. The data collected was analyzed using SPSS and significant differences in egg quality traits were compared using post hoc multiple comparisons. Average egg weight, Haugh Unit, shell thickness, yolk colour, albumen weight, yolk percent and yolk to albumin ratio of IB showed a significant difference (p<0.05) under intensive and village production systems. BB showed a statistical significant difference (p<0.05) for egg weight, yolk height, albumen height, yolk colour, Haugh Unit, shell thickness, yolk percent and albumen percent under intensive and village production systems. Further, average yolk height, yolk weight, yolk color, yolk percent and yolk to albumen ratio of PK revealed a significant difference under village and intensive production systems. The study revealed that even though the differences were observed in egg quality traits under intensive and extensive system, eggs produced from village were also found to be good quality. Key words: Egg quality traits, exotic chicken, intensive and village production system.
Highlights
Worldwide, 80% of the total chicken populations are found in village poultry production system (Alabi et al., 2006), indicating the importance of village chicken production for the development rural economy
The yolk color of eggs collected from Isa Brown (IB), Bovan Brown (BB) and Potchefstroom Koekoek (PK) under village production system had a deep yellow colour (~8 to 12) than that of collected under intensive system (~6 to 10) (Table 2), indicating yolk colour is a function of feed not breeds (Demeke, 2004)
Albumen weight had more closely associated with egg weight than yolk weight (Harms and Hussein, 1993).The analysis for albumen weight (g) revealed that (37.23, 33.19), (35.98, 34.54) and (26.07, 25.14) for IB, BB and PK under intensive and village production system, respectively (Table 2)
Summary
80% of the total chicken populations are found in village poultry production system (Alabi et al., 2006), indicating the importance of village chicken production for the development rural economy. The present study was designed with the objective to compare egg quality traits of three exotic chickens under intensive and village poultry production systems in East Shewa Zone of wastes, insects, worms and agricultural leftovers. The average egg shell thickness of IB and BB under intensive production system was significantly higher (p
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