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Egg - Practical part

6 important questions on Egg - Practical part

Why are the shape and size of an egg economically imortant characteristics?

Mostly because of transport, if the egg does not have the right size and shape it will break during transport. Some groups of people will have preferences in shape and size. Germany likes white eggs and the Netherlands like brown eggs. So to optimise sales, white eggs are transported to Germany and brown eggs are kept in the Netherlands.

Does the height of the thick white depend solely on the freshness of the egg?

No i is also partly due to genetics, but the fresher the egg the more of a difference there is between the thick egg white and the thin egg white.

Why is the eggshell thickness measured at the widest part off the egg?

The thickness of the shell is not equally divided. The part where the egg is the widest the shell is the thinnest.

Why does the shape index become larger or smaller than 74 with elongated eggs?

With elongated eggs the shape index becomes smaller because the longer the egg the smaller the shape index.

Is eggshell thickness a good measure of shell strength?

Yes but only if you measure it at the widest part of the egg. Because the shell thickness is not the same on the whole shell. At the widest part of the egg the shell is the thinnest, so if that is thick enough you can conclude that the shell is strong enough.

What does HU actually represent?

The reading of the height of the thick white in Haugh units is better because it also takes the weight of the egg in account, and so the fact that the thick white automatically stands up a bit higher in large eggs.

The question on the page originate from the summary of the following study material:

Reader Biology of Domestic Animals

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