International Journal of Agriculture and Food Security Vol. 2 (1), pp. 018-020, February, 2015. © Advanced Scholars Journals

Full Length Research Paper

None conventional storage and handling methods of egg practiced in East Wollega, Ethiopia

Mohammed. Y. kurtu¹, Dereje Duressa² and Alemu Yami³

¹, ²Haramaya University, P.O.Box 138 Dire Dawa Ethiopia.

³ US AID Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

E-mail: [email protected]

Accepted 03, April 2014

Abstract 

To know and identify the traditional practices of egg storage methods, a survey work was conducted in the east wollega zone of Ethiopia. The survey was carried out with a stratified sampling technique and using a structured questionnaire. A total of 315 households (225 from rural and 90 from urban) from five peasant Associations (PA) and 45 households owning chickens were selected from each PAs and selected town duelers for interview and generate relevant information on the traditional egg storage and associated traditional practices in the region. The collected data were described using descriptive statistics. Five most common egg storage containers and five storage durations were identified through a preliminary survey carried out in the rural and urban areas of East Wollega. These storage methods include cartons, polyethen bags, baskets, clay pots and teff grain.  The result further indicated that depending on the availability of the storage materials in the locality, 87 percent of the urban households (n=90) store eggs in cartons and polyethene bags in order of availability. Seventy nine percent of the rural households (n=225) ranked teff as the most common storage materials used followed by the basket and clay pots. The survey has indicated that the pre-incubation storage period takes 12 days on average with the range of 4 to 20 days. The storage for pre-marketing period of eggs ranged between one to three weeks with an average of 14 days. However, all the storage methods requires further research consideration for a through evaluation of each the methods for optimum unitization of best alternative traditional storage methods.

Key words: Traditional egg storage Methods, egg storage duration, egg handling, egg selection, Eastern Wellega.