A Study of Pigments from Red, Brown, and Buff Feathers and Hair

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Abstract
Feather melanins from dark red Exhibition Rhode Island Red, medium red Production Rhode Island Red, light red New Hampshire, Buff Orpington, Dark Brown Leghorn and Dark Cornish breeds of domestic fowl, Gallus gallus, bobwhite quail and from Jersey Buff and Bourbon Red turkeys were extracted with acid or alkali. Pigments from the hair of a Red Setter dog and from red human hair were also extracted in the same way. Dilute acid extracts of the chicken feathers studied were fractionated into 4 different pigments by chromatography on talc-celite columns. Extracts in 0.1 [image] HC1 were found to contain 2 purplish, Fe-containing pigments, while subsequent extraction of the feathers with 0.5 [image] HC1 removed 2 brown pigments. The 2 purple pigments showed characteristic light absorption maxima and changed color when the pH of the soln. was varied. The 2 brown pigments showed light absorption increasing linearly with a decrease in wavelength, did not contain Fe and did not show indicator properties. The 4 pigments reported were found in feathers from all breeds of the domestic fowl studied and in those of Gallus gallus. One of the purple pigments was also found in both red and buff turkey feathers and in human red hair. The 2 brown pigments were present in all of the feathers and hair samples studied.

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