The Effect of Storage and Age of Hens on the Quality of Table Eggs

Quality of poultry products, especially eggs, is a very important issue for the consumers and for the processing industry. The aim of the present study was to examine the interaction between the storage time and age of laying hens and their effect on the quality of table eggs. Eggs from 34 and 59- wk-old Bovans Brown hens were sampled and stored in the refrigerator for 1, 2, and 3 weeks. Significant effect of hen age (P<0.01) was found on egg weight, shell strength, albumen height and Haugh units (HU). Eggs from older hens had 2.58% higher mass compared to the eggs of young hens. Eggs from 59-weeks old hens had significantly lower shell strength (3.63 kg vs. 4.31 kg). Albumen height and HU were lower in eggs from the older hens compared to the young ones (5.7 mm vs. 7.11 mm for albumen height; 70.35 vs. 81.77 for HU). Significant negative effect of storage time was found on egg weight, albumen height, HU and yolk colour (P<0.01). The results indicated that egg quality characteristics monitored in this study decrease by hen age and during storage. The interaction effects between storage time and age of hens were significant only for yolk colour (P<0.05).