Poultry Studies
2018, Vol 15, Num, 2 (Pages: 001-007)
Effect of Different Dietary Vitamin–Mineral Premixes, Housing Systems and Duration of Storage on Physical Characteristics and Proximate Compositions of Eggs at the Late Laying Stage
2 Federal College of Education (Technical), Akoka, Yaba, Lagos, Nigeria - Effect of the different dietary proprietary vitamin–mineral premixes (PVMP) and housing systems (HS) on physical characteristics and proximate compositions of egg in the duration of storage (DOS) at the late laying phase were investigated in this study. Bovan Nera Black pullets (n=240) at week 71 of life were equally allotted to battery cage (BC) and deep litter (DL) HS. Pullets were further allotted in each HS to five dietary treatments. Each treatment was in triplicate of eight birds. The isocaloric and isonitrogenous diet formulated was supplemented with one of the five PVMP. Eggs (n=75) were sampled from each HS and stored at ambient conditions (temperature: 27.1-32.8°C and relative humidity: 41-76%). Egg indices were assessed at days 0, 7, 14, 21 and 28. The trial was a '2 × 5 × 5' factorial arrangement in a completely randomized design. Effect of HS on weight, length, width, Haugh unit, yolk height, shape index and weight loss of eggs was not significant (p>0.05). Yolk index of eggs from hens fed diet containing PVMP 1 group (20.41±2.73) and 4 group (20.53±2.42) differed significantly (p<0.05) from those on supplemental PVMP 2 group (18.49 ± 2.43), 3 group (19.66 ± 2.64) and 5 group (20.02 ± 2.64). Eggs weight reduced with increased DOS. Ether extract and ash of eggs from hens in DL were significantly higher (p<0.05) compared to those from BC while crude protein in egg from BC was significantly higher (p<0.05) than those from DL. Interactions of BC, PVMP and DOS on egg weight, shell weight, shell thickness and weight loss differed, significantly (p˂0.05). Relationships of yolk index and moisture content relative to DOS were negative (R² = 0.908 and R² = 0.631, respectively) and highly significant (p<0.01). Egg qualities were affected by the different HS, dietary PVMP used in layer diets as well as the eggs DOS. Keywords : Vitamin-mineral premixes, Egg quality characteristics, Days of storage, Housing systems
