Egg production and egg quality are the most important
economic traits for layer farms. One of the most important
factors affecting the profitability of egg production is the
age-related decline in egg shell quality (Nys, 1999) due to
reduction in mineral utilization and increase in egg shell
surface as the hens aged. If eggs with poor shell quality
pass through the system undetected, they can also
constitute a risk to food safety. Therefore, control of the
egg shell quality still has a part of play (Bain, 2005).