-+Mineral Composition of Eggs of Various Chicken Strain
Abstract
The study examined the effect of chicken strain on the mineral composition of eggs. Completely randomized design was used in the study. Eggs from each strain (Isa brown, Noiler, Lohmann, Leghorn) were crack opened into a 250ml beaker and homogenized with a stirrer. 5ml of the thoroughly mixed egg sample was digested using acidic digestion method. The digest was then cleaned up using silica jell. From the cleaned sample digest, 1ml was injected in Atomic Absorption Spectrometry (AAS) and the readings were recorded. Data obtained were analyzed using GenStat 20th Edition. Calcium values obtained for Isa brown, Noiler, Lohmann and Leghorn in the study were 0.00140, 0.00192, 0.00100 and 0.00390, respectively; mean values recorded for phosphorus were 6.79580, 7.31580, 5.87760 and 5.96380 correspondingly; mean values obtained for potassium were 0.00458, 0.00028, 0.00092 and 0.00330; values for iron were 0.05342, 0.04726, 0.03704 and 0.03168 and mean values recorded for sodium mean were 1.19078, 0.77600, 4.58860 and 0.92768, respectively. The study maintained that calcium and iron mineral contents of the chicken eggs are similar in the four strains studied, while eggs from Isa brown and Noiler had higher potassium and phosphorous contents, Lohmann had the highest sodium content when compared to the other strains.
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Introduction
Eggs have been a human food since ancient times. They are one of nature’s nearly perfect protein foods and have other high quality nutrients. Eggs are readily digested and can provide a significant portion of the nutrients required daily for growth and maintenance of body tissues. They are utilized in many ways both in the food industry and the home .
Eggs nutrient is dependent on the diet, strain and health of the hen laying the egg (Dvoˇr´ak et al., 2010) The amount of the nutrient present in egg is also dependent on the rearing environment, hen strain and hen age (Dvoˇr´ak et al., 2010; Anderson, 2011; Anderson, 2013). Research showed that egg contain great amount of nutrient like zinc and it concentration present in egg decreased among layer hens in response to environmental stressors, type of housing system and their strain (Sahin et al., 2009). It is believe that there are differences in the nutrient content of eggs reared in Cage-free and free-range rearing which are alternatives to caging systems for laying hens of different stain, and that eggs from free-range and cagefree hens have a higher nutritional quality than eggs from hens held in cage systems (Bejaei et al., 2011). The present study was therefore carried out with the objective to Determine the mineral composition(Ca, K, Na, P, Fe ) of eggs from four strains of layers namely; Isa brown, Leghorn, Lohmann and Noiler and to Compare the mineral compositions(Ca, K, Na, P, Fe) of the eggs from four strains of layers namely; Isa brown, Leghorn, Lohmann and Noiler.
Conclusion
Evidence from the study has proven that the mineral concentration of egg from different strain might be due to its diet composition and genetic makeup as well as management practices of the bird. It is also evident that for a particular mineral nutrient like sodium, more of Lohmann egg should be taken. For phosphorus and potassium, Isa brown and Noiler is better when compared to Lohmann and leghorn, while calcium and iron shows no significant difference amongst the four breeds used for the research.