| Title: | Active sampling of volatile chemicals for non-invasive classification of chicken eggs by sex early in incubation |
| Author(s): | Borras E; Wang Y; Shah P; Bellido K; Hamera KL; Arlen RA; McCartney MM; Portillo K; Zhou H; Davis CE; Turpen TH; |
| Address: | "Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, University of California Davis, Davis, CA, United States of America. UC Davis Lung Center, Davis, CA, United States of America. Department of Animal Science, University of California Davis, Davis, California, United States of America. SensIT Ventures, Inc., Davis, CA, United States of America. VA Northern California Health Care System, Mather, CA, United States of America" |
| DOI: | 10.1371/journal.pone.0285726 |
| ISSN/ISBN: | 1932-6203 (Electronic) 1932-6203 (Linking) |
| Abstract: | "According to industry estimates, approximately 7 billion day-old male chicks are disposed of annually worldwide because they are not of use to the layer industry. A practical process to identify the sex of the egg early in incubation without penetrating the egg would improve animal welfare, reduce food waste and mitigate environmental impact. We implemented a moderate vacuum pressure system through commercial egg-handling suction cups to collect volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Three separate experiments were set up to determine optimal conditions to collect eggs VOCs to discriminate male from female embryos. Optimal extraction time (2 min), storage conditions (short period of incubation during egg storage (SPIDES) at days 8-10 of incubation), and sampling temperature (37.5 degrees C) were determined. Our VOC-based method could correctly differentiate male from female embryos with more than 80% accuracy. These specifications are compatible with the design of specialized automation equipment capable of high-throughput, in-ovo sexing based on chemical sensor microchips" |
| Keywords: | Animals Female Male *Chickens *Refuse Disposal Eggs Temperature Automation Ovum; |
| Notes: | "MedlineBorras, Eva Wang, Ying Shah, Priyanka Bellido, Kevin Hamera, Katherine L Arlen, Robert A McCartney, Mitchell M Portillo, Kristy Zhou, Huaijun Davis, Cristina E Turpen, Thomas H eng U18 TR003795/TR/NCATS NIH HHS/ U01 TR004083/TR/NCATS NIH HHS/ UL1 TR001860/TR/NCATS NIH HHS/ UG3 OD023365/OD/NIH HHS/ P30 ES023513/ES/NIEHS NIH HHS/ Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S. 2023/05/22 PLoS One. 2023 May 22; 18(5):e0285726. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0285726. eCollection 2023" |
