THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN EGGSHELL COLOUR AND EGG QUALITY TRAITS IN TABLE EGGS

Variations in egg quality and yolk colour in relation to eggshell colour in commercial brown layer eggs were studied using 734 eggs. The traits of interest were eggshell colour, yolk colour, egg weight, Haugh unit value and shell strength. The results showed that egg weight and shell strength increased as the darkness of the shell increased, whereas the Haugh score decreased. A highly significant positive correlation was found between yolk a* (redness) and yolk colour (DSM) (0.655) (p<0.001) and could be used to indicate the darkness of the egg yolk. No correlation was observed between shell colour and egg yolk colour. The shell L* (lightness) value could be used to measure the dark or light colour of the eggshell and could possibly be accepted as a colour criterion for eggshells. Some egg quality traits varied with the colour of the eggshell.