Egg quality characteristics of different varieties of domesticated helmeted guinea fowl (Numida meleagris)

Abstract

A study was conducted to evaluate external and internal egg quality characteristics of the pearl, lavender, royal purple and white varieties of the helmeted guinea fowl kept intensively at Botswana College of Agriculture. A total of 110, 100, 70 and 60 fresh eggs were collected from the four varieties, respectively and subjected to external and internal quality analysis using established procedures. The royal purple had the highest egg weight, egg length, egg width and egg surface area the white variety had the lowest values for all those parameters. Shell thickness differed significantly (p<0.05) among the four varieties with values of 0.56±0.008, 0.53±0.013, 0.46±0.008 and 0.42±0.011 for the pearl grey, white, lavender and royal purple varieties, respectively. The royal purple had the highest albumen weight and albumen content and the lowest yolk weight and yolk content while the white variety had the lowest albumin weight and albumin content and the highest yolk content. No significant difference was found among the four varieties in yolk height, yolk width and yolk index. All the four varieties of helmeted guinea fowl produced eggs of acceptable external and internal quality. However, the royal purple had the best egg quality characteristics, followed by the pearl, lavender and lastly the white variety.