Non-destructive measurement of chicken egg characteristics: Improved formulae for calculating egg volume and surface area

The key external characteristics of chicken eggs that should be accurately estimated for various applications in poultry research, food engineering and technology development areas are volume (V) and surface area (S), although many researchers often use approximate calculation formulae proposed back in the middle of the last century. These were based on speculative constants and prone to computational errors. Using Hügelschäffer's model and simulation modelling, we generated 1820 various combinations of eggs, according to which V and S were computed with more accurate and simplified formulae that we have improved here. As a result, dependencies were obtained for a simplified calculation of these parameters using only non-destructive measurement data on the egg length and maximum breadth, with the average error in calculating V being 1.1% and that for S 0.3%. The produced equations for V and S of chicken eggs can be used in non-invasive measurement of egg characteristics. Further improvement of these formulae does not seem feasible, suggesting closing for now the polemic about more acceptable calculation of these egg variables and relevant computation errors and constants