Table 1.

Physical properties and chemical composition of amniotic fluid from late-incubation (day 17) eggs

	Broiler strain		SEM
	Ross 308	Cobb 500
Physical properties
Wt of eggs on D1(g)	61.3b	65.7a	0.45
Wt of eggs on D17 (g)	53.7b	58.1a	0.44
Osmolality (mmol/kg)	278.8	282.0	1.97
Viscosity (m/Pas)	7.2b	8.9a	0.36
pH	6.9	6.8	0.06
pCO2 (mmHg)	20.3	20.2	1.38
Chemical composition
K+ (mmol/L)	19.0b	25.2a	1.45
Na+ (mmol/L)	102.0	91.2	3.64
Ca2+ (mmol/L)	1.66	1.98	0.104
Cl− (mmol/L)	95.1	88.1	2.87
Glucose (mmol/L)	0.87	0.44	0.142
Lactate (mmol/L)	0.63	0.78	0.321
Acid-base excess (mmol/L)	−26.5	−29.3	1.01

SEM, standard error of mean; Wt, weight; D1, 1st day of incubation; D17, 17th day of incubation; K⁺, potassium; Na⁺, sodium; Ca²⁺, calcium; Cl⁻, chloride.

^abMean values along the same row not sharing a superscript are significantly different; p<0.05.