China Animal Husbandry & Veterinary Medicine ›› 2026, Vol. 53 ›› Issue (1): 201-211.doi: 10.16431/j.cnki.1671-7236.2026.01.018

• Nutrition and Feed • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Comparative Analysis of Egg Quality During Peak Laying Period in Different Local Chicken Breeds

FAN Hailu1(), HUANG Siyu1, HE Xin1, ZHANG Hongliang2, ZHANG Bo1, SHANG Peng2, ZHANG Hao1()   

  1. 1.College of Animal Science and Technology,China Agricultural University,Beijing 100193,China
    2.College of Animal Science,Xizang Agricultural and Animal Husbandry University,Nyingchi 860000,China
  • Received:2025-06-04 Online:2026-01-05 Published:2025-12-26
  • Contact: ZHANG Hao E-mail:fanhailu@cau.edu.cn;hzhang@cau.edu.cn

Abstract:

Objective This study aimed to investigate the differences in egg quality among six local chicken breeds (Chahua chickens, Tibetan chickens, Silkies chickens, Jining Bairi chickens, Wenshang Barred chickens, and Rugao Yellow chickens), and evaluate their egg production performance during the peak laying period, so as to provide references for breeding and utilization of local chicken breeds. Method A total of 60 hens per breed at 25 weeks of age were selected, with 6 replicates per breed and 10 hens per replicate. At 30 weeks of age, 45 fresh eggs from each breed were collected. Among these, 30 eggs were used to determine conventional indices such as egg weight (EW), eggshell strength (ESS), and Haugh unit (HU), while the remaining 15 eggs were used to measure albumen water content (AWC), yolk water content (YWC), and yolk crude fat content (YCF). Comparative analysis, correlation analysis, and principal component analysis (PCA) were performed. Result Chahua chickens exhibited significantly lower EW and yolk weight (YW) compared with the other five breeds (P<0.05). All breeds showed excellent HU, with Tibetan chickens having the highest albumen height (AH) and HU. Silkies chickens had the highest ESS at 41.90 N. Compared with the other five breeds, Wenshang Barred chickens had the thickest eggshell thickness (EST) and the lowest AWC (P<0.05). Rugao Yellow chickens had the highest yolk ratio (YR, 29.96%), but the lowest yolk color (YC), YWC, and YCF. The average coefficients of variation for egg quality traits across breeds ranged from 6.40% to 7.81%, indicating relatively stable characteristics. Correlation analysis revealed significant or extremely significant correlations among 11 pairs of indicators (P<0.05 or P<0.01), including AH and HU, EW and YW, and ESS and EST. The strongest correlation was observed between AH and HU (r=0.974). PCA results indicated that Tibetan chickens was the optimal choice due to its significant advantage in the albumen factor (score: 1.333). Although Rugao Yellow chickens had the highest shape index (SI) score (0.626), it performed poorly in terms of albumen, eggshell, and yolk quality, resulting in the lowest comprehensive score. Conclusion Six local chicken breeds exhibited distinct genetic potential, with significant differences in traits such as EW, ESS, AH, and YCF. Dynamic correlations were observed among various egg quality indicators. Among all breeds, Tibetan chickens demonstrated the best comprehensive egg quality.

Key words: local chicken breeds; peak laying period; egg quality

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