QUALITY AND COMPOSITION OF JAPANESE QUAIL EGGS - COTURNIX JAPONICA
2012
Genchev, A., Thracian University, Stara Zagora (Bulgaria)
The quality traits and the composition of Japanese quail eggs in relation to layers age were investigated. During the entire 7-month period, a total of 1,762 eggs from the Pharaoh breed (Ph)and 1,858 eggs from the Manchurian Golden breed (MG) were studied. The weight of Japanese quail eggs changed most consistently during the first 3 months of the production cycle (P0.001). Subsequently, during the first 3 months, the shape of eggs became more elongated. Throughout the cycle, the quality traits of egg albumen, yolk and eggshell gradually decreased and attained lowest values by the end of egg laying (P0.001). The mean Haugh units and IQU values were respectively 89.04±0.131 and 56.08±0.291 (Ph); 88.99±0.142 and 56.26±0.314 (MG). The yolk index varied between 0.234 and 0.577, with most stable quality between production months 3 and 5. During the major part of the cycle, Ph quail eggs were with thicker eggshells – 213.77±0.527 μm vs. 202.01±0.555 μm in MG (P0.001). The essential amino acid content of Japanese quail eggs comprised 50.36% of albumen protein and 48.65 % of yolk protein. The PUFA content in the phospholipids fraction of the yolk was almost 2.5 times higher than in the triglyceride fraction, whereas the PUFA:SFA ratio was 0.52:1 vs. 0.26:1-0.28:1 in the triglyceride fraction. Out of albumen mineral substances, the highest content was that of phosphorus, calcium and magnesium. The yolk was the richest in phosphorus and calcium, whereas the eggshell – in calcium.
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