Logo of the Information System for Agriculture and Food Research

Information System for Agriculture and Food Research

Information platform of the Federal and State Governments

Collaborative project: The usage of endocrinological in-ovo-sexing of the domestic fowl through liquid-chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) toward the development of marketable concepts - subproject 1 (In-ovo-LC-MS)

Project


Project code: 2819110818
Contract period: 15.11.2018 - 14.11.2021
Budget: 1,610,095 Euro
Purpose of research: Experimental development
Keywords: in-ovo gender-specific discrimination, In-ovo-LC-MS, endocrinology, laying hens

The goal of the planned research project is to optimise the method of endocrine sexing of chicken eggs using liquid-chromatographic mass spectrometers, which has been developed over the past few years, in terms of timing, work stages, material usage, and expenditure of time and costs. The newly developed analytics will be integrated into the overall process and will be validated in already established hatcheries in Leipzig and Barneveld. The aim is to achieve swift market penetration by raising consumer acceptance through optimised prices of commercially available eggs as well as their animal-welfare-compliant production. The University of Leipzig and SELEGGT GmbH will pool economic and scientific knowledge in an innovative project partnership to efficiently and effectively end chick culling with the help of animal-welfare-orientated, early in-ovo-sexing, thus being able to introduce eggs "without chick culling” to the market in the near future. The implementation of this plan will take place over several stages. First, two LC-MS-devices from different manufacturers will be tested comparatively. This is to ensure that the technology that offers more sensitive, quicker and more reliable data, whilst also being simpler and more cost-effective to set up, can be selected. Following this, the chosen device will undergo field trials in large hatcheries, where a practicable and quick LC-MS-analysis method for future hatchery uses will be developed in cooperation with SELEGGT and the preferred manufacturer. The final LM-CS-analysis method will then be integrated as a complementary method into current non-invasive automated sampling of eggs. In parallel, the high quality protein feed made from male hatching eggs will be tested in piglet breeding systems.

show more show less

Subjects

Advanced Search