Sexing of chicken eggs by fluorescence and Raman spectroscopy through the shell membrane

PloS One
Roberta GalliGerald Steiner

Abstract

In order to provide an alternative to day-old chick culling in the layer hatcheries, a noninvasive method for egg sexing is required at an early stage of incubation before onset of embryo sensitivity. Fluorescence and Raman spectroscopy of blood offers the potential for precise and contactless in ovo sex determination of the domestic chicken (Gallus gallus f. dom.) eggs already during the fourth incubation day. However, such kind of optical spectroscopy requires a window in the egg shell, is thus invasive to the embryo and leads to decreased hatching rates. Here, we show that near infrared Raman and fluorescence spectroscopy can be performed on perfused extraembryonic vessels while leaving the inner egg shell membrane intact. Sparing the shell membrane makes the measurement minimally invasive, so that the sexing procedure does not affect hatching rates. We analyze the effect of the membrane above the vessels on fluorescence signal intensity and on Raman spectrum of blood, and propose a correction method to compensate for it. After compensation, we attain a correct sexing rate above 90% by applying supervised classification of spectra. Therefore, this approach offers the best premises towards practical deployment in the hatcheries.

References

Apr 23, 2003·Poultry Science·T NakanoL Ozimek
Jan 19, 2010·Journal of Animal Science·H T TranT R Butt
Apr 12, 2011·Analytical and Bioanalytical Chemistry·Gerald SteinerEdmund Koch
Jun 30, 2012·Nature Methods·Johannes SchindelinAlbert Cardona
Oct 21, 2015·Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry·Sarbjeet MakkarNarayan C Rath
Aug 12, 2016·Analytical Chemistry·Roberta GalliGerald Steiner
Aug 26, 2016·Sexual Development : Genetics, Molecular Biology, Evolution, Endocrinology, Embryology, and Pathology of Sex Determination and Differentiation·Michael ClintonDerek McBride
Dec 15, 2016·Analytical and Bioanalytical Chemistry·Roberta GalliGerald Steiner

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Citations

Apr 6, 2019·FASEB Journal : Official Publication of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology·Hong Jo LeeJae Yong Han
Jul 24, 2020·PLoS Genetics·Charlotte Douglas, James M A Turner
Jul 4, 2019·EMBO Reports·Michael J Smanski, David Zarkower
Jun 4, 2020·International Journal of Molecular Sciences·Joonbum LeeKichoon Lee
Jul 12, 2021·Animal : an International Journal of Animal Bioscience·J GautronI C Dunn

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Methods Mentioned

BETA
optical spectroscopy
Fluorescence
PCA

Software Mentioned

MathWorks
Prism
Matlab
Graph Pad

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