Abstract
The quality characteristics and proximate composition of the eggs of pheasant, chukar, quail, and guinea fowl were compared. Eggs of the 4 species had a similar ovalish conical shape with blunt and pointed ends, showing the shape indices of 77.30-79.63 with no statistical difference. Egg weight was heaviest in guinea fowl (46.65 g), followed by pheasant (25.79 g), chukar (19.16 g) and quail (10.34 g). Proportion of yolk to the total egg weight was highest in pheasant (35.7%), followed by chukar (33.9%), quail (31.4%) and guinea fowl (30.6%). Albumen content was highest in quail showing 61.2%, while pheasant, chukar and guinea fowl were in the range of 55.6~57.4%. The ratio of yolk to albumen (Y/A) was highest in pheasant (0.65), followed by chukar (0.60), guinea fowl (0.55) and quail (0.52). The portion of shell to the total egg weight was highest in guinea fowl (13.5%) and lowest in quail (7.3%). The shell thickness of the eggs was thickest in guinea fowl ($462.8{{\mu}m}$), followed by pheasant ($241.5{{\mu}m}$), chukar ($231.8{{\mu}m}$) and quail ($174.8{{\mu}m}$). The contents of moisture, crude protein, crude fat and crude ash of whole egg were in the ranges of 74.26-74.50%, 11.98-12.77%, 10.83-11.91% and 1.02-1.10%, respectively, with no statistical difference (p>0.05) among the species. Albumen was high in moisture (87.46-87.99%) and very low in crude fat (0.09-0.13%), which was quite different from yolk. Yolk showed relatively low level of moisture (49.71-50.42%) and high levels of fat (31.48-32.32%), crude protein (15.12-15.99%) and crude ash (1.53-1.86%). No species difference in the proximate compositions of albumen and yolk was found except in crude ash content of albumen.