ABSTRACT

This study was aimed at determining the effect of genotype on the external and internal quality traits of the guinea fowl eggs. Three genotypes of guinea fowl namely - Pearl x Pearl, Black x Black, and Pearl x Black were used to generate eggs for the study. The genotypes served as treatment and each treatment was replicated 3 times. Totally, two hundred and seventy — two (272) eggs laid by the guinea hens in eight weeks were used for the external quality determination. The eggs were collected weekly. A total of eighty (80) eggs were randomly selected and used to evaluate the internal quality parameters, as well as the egg shell weight and eggshell thickness. Egg weight, egg length, egg width, egg shell weight, egg shell thickness and egg shape index were the external quality parameters measured. The internal quality parameters evaluated were egg mass, yolk weight, yolk height, yolk diameter, albumen weight, albumen height, albumen index and yolk index. The body weight of the birds was also determined and was found to range from 1.18-1.36kg. According to the results obtained in this experiment, significant differences (P<0.05) existed in egg weight (36.61±0.88, 38.18±0.69, 39.88±L02), egg length (47.29±0.80, 48.19±0.83, 48.39±0.74) and egg shape index (80.75±1.15, 77.21±0.53, 76.69±0.52) among the different genotypes. However, the average egg width, egg shell weight and egg shell thickness remained statistically (P> 0.05) the same throughout the experiment. The results also indicated significant differences (P<0.05) in egg mass (29.34±0.97, 30.03±0.44, 32.16±0.65), yolk diameter (37.45±0.56, 35.48±0.53, 34.93±0.48), albumen weight (17.20±0.29, 18.00±0.44, 20.07±0.44), albumen height (7.25±0.20, 7.62±0.30, 8.18±0.35), albumen height (62.95±1.05, 67.01±1.24, 57.49±1.79), albumen index (12.38±1.01, 10.50±0.63, 14.21±i .36) and yolk index (35.69±1.35, 37.04±1.74, 41.21±1.36) among the genotypes while yolk weight and yolk height did not differ significantly. It was concluded that in terms of egg quality characteristics any of the genotypes may be reared for effective egg production while Pearl x Pearl genotype is recommended for commercial egg production.