Phenotypic correlation estimates of external and internal quality traits of Cobb500 broiler hatching eggs

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April, 2013
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Abstract
This study was aimed at determining the internal and external quality traits of the hatching eggs of Cobb 500 broiler breeders as well as the phenotypic correlations between these traits. A total of 330 eggs collected over a period of eleven weeks during the second half of the first laying cycle, were used for this study. The birds were raised in floor pens at a breeding farm of Darko Farms and Company Limited, at Atwima Manyia a suburb of Kumasi in the Ashanti region, Ghana. The values (external quality parameters) obtained for the egg weight, egg width, egg length, shell thickness, shell ratio, shape index and shell weight respectively were 59.37g, 4.35cm, 5.64cm, 0.54mm, 12.4%, 77.6%, 7.35g. The internal quality parameters; albumen height, albumen weight, albumen ratio, Haugh unit, yolk diameter, yolk height, yolk weight, yolk index, and yolk ratio were found respectively as 5.94mm, 32.63g, 54.80% 75.10, 42.11mm, 16.35mm, 19.43g, 38.81% and 32.84%. According to the results obtained in this research, all the internal quality traits of the eggs except the yolk ratio were found to have significant positive correlations with the weight of the egg. These results suggest that it is possible to use egg weight in determining the egg length, egg width, and weight. Both albumen height and yolk height significantly influenced Haugh unit and this implies that these traits could be used to determine the Haugh unit.
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A Thesis Submitted to the Department of Animal Science, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Science in Animal Science, Degree of Master of Science in Water Supply and Environmental Sanitation
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