Mechanisms of Shell Egg Deterioration: Comparisons of Chicken and Duck Eggs ,

INTRODUCTION ONE approach to a basic understanding of biological systems is through a comparative study of the physical and biochemical properties of closely related species. It is the purpose of such studies to utilize the subtle differences provided by nature to determine the relative significances and roles of the individual components of the systems. An attempt has been made to utilize such an approach in the present investigation. A comparative study of certain properties of chicken and duck eggs has been made in order to obtain information basic to the understanding of the causes and mechanisms of the deteriorations of quality of chicken eggs during storage. Chicken and duck eggs have been reported to have closely similar compositions. Chemically, they apparently differ primarily in the relative amounts of their various constituents and in minor (but important) differences in the molecular structure of the individual components. Most of the information available . . .