Source : Perth Now news
Scientists have discovered how light can help with ‘gender reveals’ for unhatched chicken eggs.
The new study has found that light entering an intact bird eggshell could help assess the quality of the interior, determine the sex of an embryo developing within the shell, and figure out if they’ve been fertilised or not.
In the study, published in Newton, researcher Lennard van den Tweel – who works at HatchTech B.V. – said: “This previously unobserved phenomenon might help to investigate the content of the egg noninvasively even during the embryo development in fertilized and incubated eggs, addressing the ethical dilemma of culling male chicks.”
Because male chicks can’t lay eggs – as well as growing at a slower rate, thus reducing profitability – over 300 million get slaughtered shortly after birth in Europe alone.
Scientists have suggested using optical spectroscopy techniques – which have been seen in medicine – could be an ideal noninvasive way to reveal the sex of the unhatched egg.
Van den Tweel noted that are “complex and unusual” optical properties of chicken eggs which require further research, and make the technique more sensitive.
Vamshi Damagatla, an author of the study and a postdoctoral researcher at Politecnico di Milano, added: “The highly scattering nature of the avian eggshell might have evolved to protect the embryo from ultraviolet light or reduce heat dissipation when parents are out foraging.”
