Biomarker test could rapidly sex male chicks in ovo

Researchers in the Netherlands are working on a high-throughput screening machine to sex male chicks before they’re hatched.

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Jiri Hera | Dreamstime.com
Jiri Hera | Dreamstime.com

Researchers in the Netherlands are working on a high-throughput screening machine to sex male chicks before they’re hatched.

“Our company set out to find differences in the egg that were unknown. We identified novel biomarkers – a chemical compound in the body that signifies something – that help detect the sex in ovo. We are working on an automated machine that quickly samples each egg,” said Wouter Bruins, director at In Ovo.

The machine uses an analytical technique called mass spectrometry to test each egg for the biomarker. The method determines the egg's sex on day nine after fertilization.

“Basically, we have a machine where eggs go in and come out genotyped,” Bruins said.

Push to develop in ovo sex sorting

The sex of most chicks is identified after hatching. As a result, approximately 6 billion to 7 billion male layer chicks are culled each year. Producers spend more than $70 million in labor and energy to incubate and sex these eggs and the value of wasted eggs in the U.S. is more than $440 million annually.

Egg producers around the world have pledged to adopt in ovo sex sorting technology as soon as it is available. In January, the agriculture ministers of France and Germany jointly announced that the culling of male day-old chicks would be banned by the end of 2021.

“We have been working on this issue for the past 10 years and the conversation has changed recently with increased pressure from government officials and consumers to find a solution,” Bruins said. “We want to work closely with poultry production companies to solve this problem.”

Soon to be commercially available

The company was recently awarded a €2.5 million grant from the European Innovation Council Accelerator Pilot. This program supports top-class innovators and entrepreneurs with funding opportunities and acceleration services.

“We plan to use this grant money to scale up operations, hire more people and speed up the development and launch process,” said Bruins. The technique should be commercially available by the end of this year.

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