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The Haugh Unit Correction for Egg Weight is not Adequate for Comparing Eggs from Chickens of Different Lines and Ages

Département des Sciences Animales, Université Laval, Ste-Foy, Québec G1K 7P4, Canada; Phone: (418) 656-7504; FAX: (418) 656-3766

Correspondence: F. G. Silversides

The Haugh unit is the accepted commercial and research standard for measuring albumen quality of chicken eggs. This unit has been criticized because it assumes a fixed relation between egg weight and albumen height. However, the amount of albumen in an egg differs between genetic strains and changes with the age of the hen. Data are presented to show that no fixed regression is adequate for comparing eggs from hens of different strains of chickens. With the increasing age of the hen, the weight of the egg increases in a quadratic fashion while the albumen height decreases linearly. The Haugh unit also declines more rapidly than does the actual albumen height because of the overcompensation for egg weight in the Haugh unit calculation. Correlation coefficients between Haugh unit, albumen height, and the log o the albumen height were very high. When comparing eggs from diverse groups of hens, the Haugh unit correction for egg weight will likely introduce more error than it will eliminate.

Key Words: Albumen quality • egg weight • Haugh units • table eggs