Relationship Between Discolorations in Eggs and Dietary-Free Gossypol Supplied by Different Cottonseed Products

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THERE is ample experimental evidence that two different components of cottonseed cause discolorations in egg yolks. One, whose identity is not known, causes “pink” albumen as well as “reddish-brown” or “orange” yolks. The other causes discolorations commonly called “olive-green.”The appearance of olive-colored yolks in eggs laid by chickens fed cottonseed meal was apparently first reported by Lamon and Lee (1917), and the responsible substance first identified as gossypol by Schaible, Moore and Moore (1934). The observations of Swenson, Fieger and Upp (1942) and of Heywang, Denton and Bird (1949) show that yolk discolorations attributable to gossypol may range from olive-green or light chocolate brown to nearly black.The portion of the gossypol extractable by aqueous acetone is defined as free-gossypol (American Oil Chemists’ Society, 1952). All the gossypol in meals can be recovered by use of the acid treatment prior to extraction with aqueous acetone. The difference in value …