Influence of housing system on the physical, morphological, and mechanical properties of Japanese quail eggs

Abstract

The objective of this study was to determine the influence of housing system on the physical, morphological, and mechanical properties of Japanese quail (Coturnix coturnix japonica) eggs. A total of 240 eggs were collected from Japanese quails kept in two different housing systems: cage housing and aviary housing system (120 eggs from each housing system). Eggs from cage housing system were significantly (P<0.05) heavier than eggs from aviary housing system (11.85 g vs. 10.93 g), and were also longer, wider and had significantly (P<0.05) larger geometric mean diameter, surface area and volume. No statistically significant difference in albumen and yolk content was observed between eggs from cage and aviary housing system. Eggs from aviary housing system had significantly higher shell content and shell strength and required greater force to eggshell breaking. The average force required to breaking the shell of Japanese quail eggs from cage and aviary housing system in all three axes was 14.36 N and 12.70 N, respectively.

Comparative analysis of physical, morphological, and mechanical characteristics of eggs from three pheasant subspecies

“…So, loading along the Z-axis required the least amount of energy to breaking the pheasant egg shell. The average values of absorbed energy for pheasant eggs observed in this study 1.85 to 2.28 Nmm (depending of compression direction) were lower to those reported for Hisex Brown chicken eggs of 2.80 to 5.10 Nmm reported by Nedomova et al (2009) , but higher than absorbed energy of 1.28 to 1.81 Nmm reported by Galic et al (2021) for Japanese quail eggs.…”

“…The highest firmness during compression along the X-front axis was observed at eggs from common pheasant ( P < 0.05), while there were no significant differences during compression along X-back axis and Z-axis between pheasant subspecies. The average firmness value of pheasant eggs observed in this study 109.33 to 202.39 N/mm (depending of compression direction) were higher than those reported by Galic et al (2021) for Japanese quail eggs of 51.84 to 69.64 N/mm, but lower than firmness values of 158.59 to 269.90 N/mm reported by Nedomova et al (2009) for Hisex Brown chicken eggs. The firmness values determined along the Z-axis were significantly lower than those determined along both X-axes at eggs from all 3 pheasant subspecies.…”