Evidence for an Association Between the Lysozyme Level and the Quality of Egg White

Bases for an association between the lysozyme level and the quality of egg white have been reviewed by Cotterill and Winter (1955), who obtained results suggesting that a decrease in electrostatic forces between lysozyme and ovomucin is a factor in egg white thinning. That lysozyme concentration itself maybe a factor governing the degree of this electrostatic attraction is suggested by the increase in complexing between lysozyme and its bacterial substrate obtained with increases in lysozyme concentration (Wilcox and Daniel, 1954). Data on pH and albumen quality were available for eggs subsequently analyzed for lysozyme in connection with other experiments to be reported in detail elsewhere. These eggs were from a random sample of White Leghorn pullets and from the second and third generations of lines bred specifically for high and low lysozyme level within each of two strains. On the day after each egg was laid the albumen height was …