Table 5. The egg and eggshell qualities of laying hens subjected to various molting methods during post molting1)

Control MD WB CZn MZn Pooled SEM p-value
Eggshell strength (kg/cm2)
 2 wk post molting 4.72 4.79 4.63 4.79 4.9 0.186 0.888
 4 wk post molting 5.05 4.53 4.68 5.08 4.94 0.150 0.059
 6 wk post molting 4.77ab 4.54b 4.53b 5.16a 4.75ab 0.149 0.045
Eggshell thickness (mm)
 2 wk post molting 0.41 0.43 0.43 0.42 0.42 0.006 0.061
 4 wk post molting 0.43 0.42 0.43 0.43 0.44 0.005 0.505
 6 wk post molting 0.41 0.43 0.43 0.43 0.43 0.005 0.053
Haugh unit
 2 wk post molting 84.5a 80.1b 78.1b 80.6b 80.3b 1.064 0.004
 4 wk post molting 80.0 78.4 78.2 77.0 76.3 1.007 0.119
 6 wk post molting 81.2 81.1 80.7 82 81.3 0.862 0.829
Yolk color
 2 wk post molting 8.8 8.8 8.6 8.6 8.6 0.084 0.251
 4 wk post molting 8.6a 8.3b 8.3b 8.8a 8.6a 0.067 < 0.001
 6 wk post molting 8.5 8.4 8.5 8.6 8.5 0.073 0.082
Data are least square of mean of eight replicates with two cages (five birds per cage).
Mean values with different superscripts within the same row differ significantly (p < 0.05).
Control, fasting group; MD, group received induced molting diet; WB, group received wheat bran based diet; CZn, group fed commercial layer diet with 8,000 ppm zinc; MZn, group fed induced molting diet with 8,000 ppm zinc.