Evilda Rodrigues de Lima

Egg quality of laying hens in different conditions of storage, ages and housing densities

The objective of this research was to evaluate the quality of eggs from Dekalb White hens under different temperatures (room temperature, 25 oC; and refrigeration, 8 oC), storage times (7, 14 and 21 days), age of birds (35, 40, 45 and 50 weeks) and housing densities (625, 500, 416.6 and 357.14 cm 2 /birds). Haugh unit (HU) values and albumen height of 1,120 eggs from 528 laying hens, randomly allocated to four groups with different population densities were evaluated. The results showed a significant effect on Haugh units, between the time and storage conditions and between the ages of laying hens and storage condition. Eggs stored in refrigeration showed less weight loss and better Haugh unit indices when compared with eggs stored at room temperature. The increased time of storage, regardless of the temperature, caused loss in their quality. According to the results of this study, based on the evaluation of the albumen height, temperature, storage time, density and age of the layers influence the values of Haugh unit.

Aspectos produtivos e econômicos de poedeiras comerciais submetidas a diferentes densidades de alojamento

The objective of this research was to study productive and economical aspects of laying hens (Gallus gallus) submitted to different housing densities. Two hundred and sixty-four laying hens were housed in cages with dimensions of 100 cm × 50 cm × 40 cm in a randomized complete design with four groups distributed in a 4 × 4 factorial arrangement, with 8, 10, 12 and 14 animals/cage, corresponding to 625, 500, 416,6 and 357,14 cm2/animal. The following characteristics were assessed: egg production, medium egg weight, feed intake, egg mass, feed conversion per dozen and inappropriate eggs for human consumption. Cage density only had an effect on the extra large and medium type eggs and on the daily production of medium type eggs, but did not influence the other variables studied. For laying hens of the Dekalb White lineage, the use of cages with housing densities of 625, 500, 416,6 and 357,14 cm2/animal in the production phase did not harm the quality parameters under the productive and economical aspects.