November 5, 2013
US researchers discover method for determining gender of chicken embryos
The USPOULTRY and the USPOULTRY Foundation completed a funded research project at the University of Delaware in Newark, Delaware, regarding a new method to determine the gender of chicken embryos.
As part of the Association''s comprehensive research programme, the project encompasses all phases of poultry and egg production and processing.
In a recently completed research project funded by USPOULTRY, researchers at the University of Delaware, led by S. Golovan, successfully developed a first-generation prototype of an imaging system to determine fertilisation and gender of chicken embryos. The system uses machine vision hardware and algorithms in a light environment to image eggs during the first 30 hours of incubation. The machine proved to be 89% accurate for fertilisation and 76% accurate for sex determination in these early studies.
This process has the potential to be very useful for the poultry industry, allowing removal of infertile eggs from incubation and separation of eggs according to the sex of the embryos.
Future studies will focus on improving accuracy and determination of the ideal time for imaging.
US Poultry & Egg Association is the all-feather organisation representing the complete spectrum of today''s poultry industry, whose mission is to progressively serve member companies through research, education, communication, and technical assistance. Founded in 1947, US Poultry & Egg Association is based in Tucker, Georgia.