Uptake of DDT and DDE by the quail embryo and chick

Abstract Adult female Japanese quail (Coturnix coturnix japonica) were dosed orally with pp'‐DDT in order to produce residues of pp'‐DDT and pp'‐DDE in their eggs. Eggs were incubated and insecticide uptake by the developing embryos and chicks was compared with the results of other authors, who had injected chicken eggs with insecticide solution before incubation. Rate of uptake by quail embryos increased throughout the incubation period. At hatching and 2 days after hatching, the yolk sac was estimated to contain mean amounts of 37% and 7%, respectively, of the total residues in the chick. Quail eggs, without detectable organochlorine residues, were injected with either pp'‐DDT or pp'‐DDE in olive oil. At 6 days incubation significantly more DDE than DDT was found in the embryo, but this trend had stopped by 10 days incubation. Metabolism of pp'‐DDT to pp'DDE was first detected after 9 days incubation. Embryonic development was slower in injected eggs than in eggs from treated females.