A study conducted by researchers in Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences has shown that eggs produced by chickens allowed to forage in pastures are higher in some beneficial nutrients.
In the research, titled "Vitamins A, E and fatty acid composition of the eggs of caged hens and pastured hens," which was published online this year in the January issue of Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems, researchers examined how moving pastured hens to forage legumes or mixed grasses influenced hen egg omega-3 fatty acids and concentrations of vitamins A and E.
The study also compared the eggs of the pastured hens to those of hens fed a commercial diet. The differences were striking, according to lead investigator Heather Karsten, associate professor of crop production ecology.
"Compared to eggs of the commercial hens, eggs from pastured hens eggs had twice as much vitamin E and long-chain omega-3 fats, more than double the total omega-3 fatty acids, and less than half the ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 fatty acids," she said. "Vitamin A concentration was 38 percent higher in the pastured hens' eggs than in the commercial hens' eggs, but total vitamin A per egg did not differ."
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