Composition of Fresh and Storage Eggs from Hens Fed Cottonseed and Non-Cottonseed Rations

SINCE certain yolk ingredients have been shown to diffuse into the whites during cold storage of cottonseed oil eggs, the question arose as to whether the pink color of the whites of such eggs could be (1) diffused normal yolk pigments, (2) the natural pigment of whites, riboflavin, modified by diffused yolk constituents, or, (3) some cottonseed oil pigment, deposited in the yolk as a result of its consumption in feed and later diffused into the whites during storage. To investigate these possibilities the following experiments were conducted. EXPERIMENTAL Absorption spectra of a normal white from a fresh egg and a normal-appearing white and pink white from stored cottonseed oil eggs are presented in Figure 1. The Beckman quartz spectrophotometer and the Cenco-Sheard Spectrophotelometer were used for the determinations. The untreated whites were filtered clear and diluted with 0.9 percent NaCl solution to obtain the proper concentrations for specific wave . . .