Effects of omega-3 fatty acids enrichment with flaxseed oil and egg storage duration on egg quality

摘要

Feeding laying chickens can influence egg quality and increase market value. The objective of the current study was to determine egg quality as the level of flaxseed oil increased in poultry diet in omega-3 egg enrichment study. A secondary objective was to determine impact of increasing storage duration of eggs over a period of 14 days on egg quality. The study involved the enrichment of chicken eggs with the inclusion of varying levels of flaxseed oil in layer diet. Eighty commercial Lohmann tradition layers (n=20 per treatment) were randomly allotted to 4 isocaloric and isonitorogenous dietary treatments with varying levels of flaxseed oil (control (0%), 1.5%, 3% and 4.5%) from 39 to 70 weeks of age. Between 45 and 52 weeks of age, 900 eggs were collected for egg quality analysis. Fifteen eggs from each treatment were collected over 15 consecutive days. The eggs were stored at room temperature for zero to fourteen days. Afterwards eggs were broken to determine egg component characteristics. The data was analyzed using the SAS Proc. GLM procedure and lsmeans separated by the PDIFF procedure of SAS at P0.05. The Haugh unit value, which is a measure of protein quality in the albumen of eggs was 81.2% in the 3% flaxseed oil treatment compared to the rest of the treatments: control (81.0%), 1.5% treatment (79.9%) and 4.5% treatment (80.8%). The treatment with 4.5% flaxseed oil had heavier egg weight compared to the rest. When eggs were stored over a period of 14 days in ambient temperature there was strong reduction in albumen quality and Haugh unit with increasing days of egg storage, an indication of increasing loss of carbon dioxide and moisture from the eggs. There was no significant effect of feeding treatments using different flaxseed levels on egg quality parameters except the yolk color which became pale with increase flaxseed oil inclusion. It can be concluded that enriching eggs with flaxseed oil will not change storage quality but storing eggs over prolonged period of time had the most negative impact by reducing egg quality.