Comparative characteristics of the morpho-biophysical qualities of meat quail eggs

Abstract

In 2023, more than 140 million units were produced in Russia. quail eggs, i.e., one egg per person per year. In this segment, the country is significantly inferior to many countries with developed poultry farming. But demand creates supply and in recent years the production of quail eggs has been intensively increasing, the share of which in the total balance of produced food eggs is 0.3% and is gradually growing. New breeds, crosses and lines of both egg and meat productivity are appearing. The purpose of the study was a comparative analysis of the morpho-biophysical qualities of eggs from the white Texas and Pharaoh meat breeds. However, there is practically very little information about the quality of eggs obtained from such breeds, despite the fact that the eggs are widely used both for incubation and in human nutrition. Therefore, the study of the morpho-biophysical qualities of quail eggs for meat production is not only relevant, but also of high practical importance. It was found that the weight of eggs of the Pharaoh breed was 8.5% higher compared to eggs of the white Texas breed, and the egg shape index was almost 3% lower. A comparison of the indicator characterizing the quality of protein in the studied breeds showed that the indicator of Hau units of Texas quail breed eggs was 88.74 and exceeded this indicator for Pharaoh eggs by 5.02%. In general, it should be said that the morpho-biophysical qualities of Texas white eggs were significantly different from those of the Pharaoh breed.