[Ultraweak emissions from chicken eggs and embryos: the nonadditive interaction of 2 emitters and stable...

Ultraweak emission of the optic range from developing, unfertilized, and dead chicken eggs and their components (isolated blastoderm and embryo, entire yolk, white, and shell) was measured at the normal and abnormal temperatures of incubation using a photomultiplier tube. Two sources of ultraweak emission were found: blastoderm and yolk from the fertilized eggs until day 4 of incubation and shell from all eggs, including the unfertilized and dead ones. Emission from the former source was weaker and almost light independent, was recorded only at the temperature of incubation, and had a wavelength of no more than 3000 nm. Emission from the latter source was distinctly light dependent, less temperature dependent, and had a wavelength of 600-800 nm. Ultraweak emission of the entire fertilized eggs was not equal to those of their components: at the early stages of incubation, the internal components of the eggs mostly stimulated ultraweak emission of the shell, while from day 9 of incubation on, they inhibited or absorbed the latter. Absorption and emission of photons by the shell increased as the development proceeded. As compared to the unfertilized and dead eggs, emission from the entire developing egg was characterized by a greater sensitivity to temperature gradients and resistance against small temperature fluctuations in the optimal temperature range. Analysis of the curves of afterillumination decrement of ultraweak emission suggests a significant coherence of emission from the entire developing egg and whole shell, rather than from the unfertilized and dead eggs and shell fragments.