Effect of genotype, age and their interaction on egg quality and composition of laying chicken.
Egg quality and physical egg composition traits of two selected strains, a control line and a naked neck line of White Leghorns (WLh) and two selected strains of Rhode Island Red (RIR) were evaluated at three stages (30, 36 and 44 weeks of age). Egg quality and composition traits showed improvement with age but specific gravity, albumen height, HUS, % albumen declined with age. The WLh selected strains had higher egg weight, yolk height, yolk diameter, yolk weight and albumen quality than the control line while specific gravity and shell thickness, were higher in the control line. Of the two RIR strains, RIR-C had higher shape index, albumen height, Haugh unit score, specific gravity and shell weight than RIR-B.