Evaluation of Egg Quality of Japanese Quail in Different Housing Systems

Abstract

A total of 135 birds of Japanese quails at 5 th week of age were divided randomly into three groups housed in galvanized metal cages, pens covered with fine and coarse sawdust for the 1 st , 2 nd and 3 rd groups, respectively. The results revealed that egg length, egg shape index, shell weight, shell ratio and egg thickness were significantly affected by housing system. The egg produced in fine sawdust group had the highest egg shape index (82.75 %), shell weight (1.69 g), shell ratio (15.88 %) and shell thickness (0.27 mm) with lowest egg length (29.98 mm) in fine sawdust group when compared with other systems. On the other hand, egg weight (11.99 g), egg surface area (22.91 cm 2 ), egg width (25.86 mm) was higher in the cage system with no significant differences. Moreover, the most of internal egg quality was significantly affected by different housing systems, while there were no significant differences in albumin ratio and width, yolk weight and ratio. Threfore, the egg quality (internal and external traits) was better in cage system and deep litter system with fine sawdust in comparison to the deep litter system with coarse sawdust.