Breakthrough on sexing unhatched eggs

A research team at Germany's Dresden University of Technology has developed a method of sexing fertilised eggs before they hatch, thus avoiding the practice of killing male chicks shortly after hatching.

The research team has been investigating on the use of infrared spectroscopy to determine the gender of young birds and unhatched eggs. Researcher Gerald Steiner applied infrared spectroscopic imaging from the growing contour feathers of 23 male and 23 female six-week-old turkey poults and sexed them based on the genetic information contained in the cell.

The team successfully classified female and male poults with an accuracy of more than 95%, demonstrating the potential of this technique as a quick and non-subjective method to distinguish the gender of birds even when their physical appearances or characteristics are not yet developed.

Steiner said this method can also be applied to determine the gender of germ cells in a fertilised, but non-bred egg or to identify non-fertilised eggs.

It is the only method accurate enough that has the potential to be applied in the breeding industry to select "female" eggs for breeding and to avoid the killing of millions of male chicks shortly after hatching, Steiner added.