MINERAL AND NUTRITIONAL CONTENTS OF HEN'S EGGS FROM DIFFERENT SOURCES IN ADEN GOVERNORATE-YEMEN

Abstract

Many studies are needed to be done in a nutrition field and people are advised to eat eggs daily to reduce mineral deficiencies. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the concentrations of six essential elements: Na, Mg, P, S, K, Ca and determine the nutrient contents such as; protein, lipid, ash, and moisture in the edible part of hen eggs selected from four different sources in Aden (i.e. Al-Buraiqeh, Al-Hiswah, Khormaksar, and Shaikh Othman). These elements were determined by inductively coupled plasma-optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES). The highest concentrations of sulfur were found in hen egg samples derived from the Khormaksar (4205 ppm) and Shaik Othman (4433 ppm) regions. Moreover, the concentrations of sodium in selected raw eggs from the same regions were 3044 and 2758 ppm, respectively. On contrary, the collected egg samples from Al-Buraiqeh had in general, low levels of elements. The macro Kjeldahl method was used to determine protein in egg samples while the total lipid content was determined using the Soxhlet method and the Gerber method. The high percentage of protein content was noted in market hen eggs from Al-Hiswah (12.80%) but, the lowest percentage of protein content was derived from street hen eggs from Al-Hiswah (7.66%). For the lipid percent, the high concentration was remarked to home hen eggs from Khormaksar (12.71%) while the lowest percentage of protein content was coined for market hen eggs from Al-Buraiqeh (9.91%). This data can be attributed to hen feed specifics within different regions and the impact of environmental factors. The percentage of ash and moisture was also determined in this study. The obtained results were compared with others achieved in different countries. In all analyzed raw eggs, the concentrations of minerals and nutritional contents were safe levels.