THE EFFECTS OF STORAGE METHOD AND DURATION ON THE QUALITY OF JAPANESE QUAIL EGGS (Coturnixcoturnix japonica)

ABSTRACT

The experiment was conducted to evaluate the effect of storage method and duration on external and internal qualities of Japanese quail eggs for three storage method(oiling, earthen pot and room temperature) and four storage durations (7,14,21 and 28 days) were used. A total of three hundred and ten eggs were used for this experiment. Eggs were collected daily then oiled and stored on a tray while some where unoiled and stored in an earthen pot and at room temperature (22-24°C) for 7, 14, 21 and 28 days. At the designated day, the eggs were processed to evaluate their internal and external qualities. All data collected were subjected to analysis of variance (ANOVA) using GLM procedure of SAS (2008). Means separation was done using Tukey's Honesty Significant Difference of SAS Procedure.There was no significant difference between the storage methods for the egg height. Also, the Egg breadth for

Control (24.45) was significantly different from Room.temp (23.75), earthen pot (23.27) and Oiling (23.76). There was significant difference between the yolk height at Control (8.806), oiling (6.67), room. temp (6.07) and earthen pot (5.68). The yolk diameter showed significant difference (P > 0.05) between control (23.58), Room temperature (27.02), earthen pot (26.34) and Oiling (25.03). The yolk diameter of oiled and earthen pot stored eggs did not differ (P>0.05) from.each other but were significantly (P