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Abstract
Egg safety and quality are a priority for United States egg producers. With the increase in food manufacturers and retailers pledging to use cage-free eggs by 2025, more egg producers are shifting from conventional cage systems to cage-free housing systems for layers. This change results in a need to evaluate the impact of diet and nutrition and the role of bird management on egg quality. In two studies, the effect of northern fowl mite (NFM) infestation of birds on the quality of cage-free eggs, as well as the effect of dietary supplementation of different omega fatty acids and vitamin D on egg quality were evaluated. NFM infestation reduced volume of the shell, Haugh unit score, shell surface area, shell length, and shell width (P < 0.05). Fish oil supplementation negatively impacted physical egg quality (P < 0.05) while vitamin D supplementation improved egg quality.