Application of Scanning Electron Microscopy in Quail Eggshell Characterization

The microstructure of the outer surface and cross section of quail eggshell has been observed using a scanning electron microscope (SEM). The results showed that the quail eggshell was composed of shell membrane, mastoid layer, sponge layer, vertical crystal layer and stratum corneum from inside to outside. The outer surface was distributed with dark brown and light yellow irregular color spots. The stratum corneum in the dark brown area was thicker than that in the light yellow area. The difference comes from the stratum corneum. The energy spectrum results showed that the contents of C, O and N in the dark brown area were relatively higher than those in the light yellow area, and the contents of Mg, P, S and Ca in the light yellow area were relatively higher than those in the dark brown area.