Evaluation of egg quality parameters in Bhutanese indigenous chickens vis-a-vis exotic chicken

This study was designed to compare the physical egg quality of 4 Bhutanese indigenous chickens (BIC) namely Seim (SM), Phulom (PL), Khuilay (KL) and Yuebjha Narp (YN) with Hyline Brown (HL). A total of 160 eggs were collected to represent the sample size. The BIC egg shell colour varied from white to brownish however, egg shells with cream (51.50%) and white colour (33.00%) were considerably common. The overall mean egg weight in BIC was 47.44g with the lowest for SM (45.95g) and highest for PL (50.35g). Mean egg weight and volume (43.60±6.35) of BIC eggs were comparatively lower than Hyline Brown. The egg phenotype and correspondingly the crushing strength of five populations increased from YN < SM < KL < PL < HL. The specific gravity was the lowest and greatest for YN (1.03) and KL (1.17), respectively. Moreover, the shell thickness measures among the BIC strains were not significant (P