Pigmentation of White, Brown, and Green Chicken Eggshells Analyzed by Reflectance, Transmittance, and Fluorescence Spectroscopy

Abstract

We report on the reflectance, transmittance and fluorescence spectra (λ=200–1200 nm) of four types of chicken eggshells (white, brown, light green, dark green) measured in situ without pretreatment and after ablation of 20–100 μm of the outer shell regions. The color pigment protoporphyrin IX (PPIX) is embedded in the protein phase of all four shell types as highly fluorescent monomers, in the white and light green shells additionally as non-fluorescent dimers, and in the brown and dark green shells mainly as non-fluorescent poly-aggregates. The green shell colors are formed from an approximately equimolar mixture of PPIX and biliverdin. The axial distribution of protein and colorpigments were evaluated from the combined reflectances of both the outer and inner shell surfaces, as well as from the transmittances. For the data generation we used the radiative transfer model in the random walk and Kubelka-Munk approaches.