Comparison of egg quality characteristics of different quail lines

Abstract

This study was carried out to investigate external and internal egg quality traits of different quail lines housed in a multitier cage system. The study was performed on eggs of three different lines of quail as wild type, recessive white and black cross-line stock raised for commercial production. All flocks in the experiment were housed in the same environmental conditions for quail and fed the same diets during the experiment. A total of 60 eggs from each quail line were used to determine internal and external egg quality traits. The eggs from cross-line black coloured quails had significantly greater weight (P<0.01) and it needs more force to crack significantly than the other eggs to break (P<0.012). The black line of quails had significantly greater egg shell thickness than the other line quails (P<0.001). The white line quail eggs had significantly lowest egg length and highest shape index values (P<0.001, P<0.001). The egg yolk of white lines had a significantly lighter yellow than wild and black lines (P<0.003). In conclusion, it seems that the eggs of black coloured quails were relatively superior to wild and white coloured quail groups.