CHANGES IN VOLUME AND PHYSICAL PROPERTIES OF ALLANTOIC AND AMNIOTIC FLUIDS UNDER NORMAL AND EXTREME TEMPERATURES

¹ Cornell University Agricultural Experiment Station, Ithaca, New York

Under normal conditions of incubation the relative volume and physical properties of allantoic and amniotic fluids are nearly identical in chicken, pheasant, quail, turkey, duck and goose eggs.

Under high and low temperature the fluids are altered in respect to both volume and physical properties. In general, the course of changes follows the morphological age of the embryo. The volume of allantoic fluid was suppressed, while that of amniotic fluid was excessively enlarged during the later part of incubation under high temperature. The time of increase in density was shifted in both fluids along with the developmental stage of the embryo; there was also a noticeable reduction in the density of the amniotic fluid at low temperature. The drop in hydrogen-ion concentration of allantoic fluid was nearly identical, except for the time factor, while the values for amniotic fluid decreased more rapidly at low and more gradually at high temperatures.