Strain Variation in Albumen Quality Decline of Hen’s Eggs

INTRODUCTION THE initial quality of fresh shell eggs varies among breeds and strains. As early as 1934 Knox and Godfrey noted that eggs from White Leghorn hens had a significantly greater percentage of thick white than eggs from Rhode Island Red hens. Grimes (1953) observed that standard-bred strains tended to produce eggs of superior albumen quality when compared with eggs laid by crossbred and incrossbred “strains” although the quality of eggs from the standard-bred strains was less uniform. The fact that breeds and strains do lay eggs of significantly different albumen quality has been supported by many other workers including Dawson et al. (1953), Cotterill and Winter (1954), Johnson and Gowe (1956) and King and Hall (1955). Several studies have shown that initial albumen quality is an inherited trait. Lorenz, Taylor and Almquist (1934) developed high and low quality lines based on percentage of thick albumen in the eggs. Knox . . .