The transfer of minerals from the egg to the chick embryo from the 5th to 18th days of incubation

Synopsis

The amounts of copper, iron, magnesium, manganese, potassium, sodium and zinc in the embryo and in the rest of the egg were determined daily from the 5th to 18th days of incubation.

For all minerals the relationships between the amounts present in the embryo and the embryo dry weight were allometric over this period.

There were significant, positive, within‐day correlations between the amounts of copper, manganese, sodium and potassium and between iron, magnesium and zinc present in the embryo.

Only in the cases of iron and sodium was there evidence to suggest that the total amount of the element present in the egg was correlated with the amount transferred to the embryo.