Abstract
Eggs are relatively cheap, staple human food which supply well-balanced nutrients. Despite their pool of nutrients, they are perishable and may be rejectable to consumers due to quality loss. Therefore, effective storage method which can minimize egg quality deterioration and post-harvest losses to farmers is necessary to be investigated. In this study, eighty (80) fresh chicken eggs of 60g mean weight were used to investigate effects of four preservation methods on egg quality parameters. Using Completely Randomized Design, twenty eggs each were selected and preserved; at room temperature (RT) as control, by oiling (O), by vacuum package (VP) and by pasteurization/refrigeration (PR) and designated as treatments T1, T2, T3 and T4 respectively. On the days 7, 14 and 21 of preservation, 5 eggs each were randomly selected from each group for quality analysis. The results showed that the analyzed eggs were statistically similar (P>0.05) across the preservation methods in term of their shell surface area, egg shell weight, egg shell thickness, egg weight, albumen weight and yolk colour. However, yolk index, Haugh unit and albumen height differed significantly (P<0.05) across the treatments. Likewise, yolk and albumen percentages differed significantly (P<0.05) but only on days 14 and 21. Highest values of Haugh unit and the yolk index were obtained in T4 while both parameters recorded lowest values in T1. Table eggs preserved by Oiling and by VP were second and third respectively next to PR in term of yolk index. In conclusion, preservation by pasteurization and refrigeration was the most effective among the methods investigated in this study and is therefore recommended for poultry farmers and consumers for preserving eggs.

Key words: Preservation methods, Table eggs, Quality indices, Sudan savannah