Table 1.

Summary of the advantages and limitations of bone quality analysis methods.

Methods	Advantage	Limitations
Bone ash analysis	- Low price - Easy to perform - Provide the information of bone mineral content	- Time consuming - Results can not reflect structural change of bones: pores, volume of bone cavity, and so on.
Bone breaking strength	- Provide the information of mechanical property of bones	- Results are affected by bone size, temperature, moister of samples
Histology	- Examine the details of internal architecture of various cells and tissues	- Time-consuming - Planar analysis - Subject to human error during the preparation and analysis of slides
Dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DEXA)	- Low radiation exposure - Allows for longitudinal studies - Provide additional parameters including soft-tissue composition	- Only measure areal bone mineral density - Resolution is lower than clinical CT and peripheral quantitative CT (pQCT) and micro-CT - Cannot distinct different parts of bones - The position of birds during scanning significantly affects the results
pQCT	- Volumetric bone mineral density - Bone separation at the cross-sections	- Cannot analysis bone 3D structures
Clinical computed tomography (clinical CT)	- Volumetric bone mineral density - 3D structural analysis - Can analysis large sample size/whole animal noninvasively	- Need large space to position the machine - lower resolution than micro CT
Micro computed tomography (micro-CT)	- Volumetric bone mineral density - 3D structural analysis - High definition - Segment analysis for each part of bones	- Has limitation on sample size - Time-consuming for high-definition scanning