Fast quantification of avian eggshell microstructure and crystallographic-texture using two-dimensional X-ray diffraction

Alejandro B Rodriguez-Navarro (1)

1 Departamento de Mineralogia y Petrologia [Granada]

1. It is important to quantify eggshell microstructure because it may influence eggshell mechanical properties and could be of importance for eggshell quality assessment. It also informs about changes in eggshell associated to different hen physiological conditions. 2. This paper describes an alternative methodology which based on 2D X-ray diffraction allows eggshell microstructure quantification (e.g., crystal size and orientation) much more efficiently than using traditional techniques (i.e., optical or scanning electron microscopy and conventional X-ray diffraction). 3. For such analyses, an X-ray diffractometer equipped with an area detector is used. Such type of equipment collects the diffraction pattern of the sample in one single exposure (taking few tens of seconds), reducing considerably the data acquisition time. 4. Two dimensional diffraction patterns obtained contain detailed information about size and crystallographic orientation of crystals forming the eggshell. This information can be automatically extracted using specially designed software. 5. In this paper, specific application examples of these analyses and recommendations to obtain different types of microstructure information are given. Also, limitations of this technique are discussed.

Mots clés: Life Sciences

Alejandro B Rodriguez-Navarro. Fast quantification of avian eggshell microstructure and crystallographic-texture using two-dimensional X-ray diffraction. British Poultry Science, 2007, 48 (02), pp.133-144. ⟨10.1080/00071660701302262⟩. ⟨hal-00545310⟩