Assessment of protein and micronutrient quality of egg powder from three breeds chicken

This study examined the protein and micronutrient constituents of egg powder processed from three most common varieties of chicken such as guinea fowl (Numida lelagris); indigenous chicken (Gallus gallus domesticus) and improved commercially grown chicken (Gallus gallus domesticus) selected from Imo State, South-East Nigeria. Whole egg powder was processed from fresh eggs obtained from each chicken. Essential and non-essential amino acids whole eggs powder samples were determined by High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC).The samples contained nine (9) essential amino acids (EAAs), histidine, isoleucine, leucine, lysine, methionine, phenylalanine, threonine, tryptophan, and valine. The results revealed that the values of EEAs were not the same among the three samples significantly (p<0.05). The whole egg powder of indigenous chicken (sample C) had the highest mg/100g concentrations of 16.3748 threonine, 30.0847 isoleucine, 22.6647 leucine, 3.4268 lysine and 1.1685 histidine among the three samples. On the other hand 8.5268 mg/100g and 2.0486 mg/100g of valine and phenylalanine were the highest values essential amino acids found on whole egg powder of improved commercially grown chicken (sample B). While 0.9384 and 2.0528 mg/100g of methionine and tryptophan were the highest values from whole egg powder from Guinea fowl (sample A) of the three samples. Similar pattern was found on the non-essential amino acids; the mg/100g of 7.604 serine, 2.7469 glutamate, 9.1647 arginine, 3.8099 tyrosine and 1.3206 cysteine were the highest values obtained from whole egg powder of improve commercially grown chicken among the samples. The result also indicates 39.432 mg/100g vitamin A, 35.124 mg/100g vitamin D and 9.845 mg/100g vitamin K from sample C were the highest values among the samples while highest concentration of 56.980 mg/100g vitamin E was found from sample A. The values of minerals potassium, calcium, sodium and phosphorous investigated in this work were not the same significantly. The concentration of minerals among the samples ranged from 6.082 to 8.048 mg/100g potassium, 5.056 to 8.056 mg/100g calcium, 5.347 to 8.418 mg/100g sodium and 7.093 to 8.134 mg/ 100 phosphorous were found. The indications from this study shown the potential of whole egg powder from the varieties of chicken in food and food formulation.