Yahoo – AFP,
Mathilde Richter, April 25, 2016
 |
At
Dresden's University Clinic, scientists are working to prevent mass culls of newborns
by detecting the sex of chicks before they hatch (AFP Photo/John
Macdougall)
|
Dresden
(Germany) (AFP) - In a basement of Dresden University, German scientists are
busy refining a technique that could save millions of fluffy chicks from being
shredded to death moments after they hatch.
The young
hatchlings are usually condemned to a violent end simply because they are male,
as roosters are deemed largely useless in the world of livestock farming.
Not only
are they unable to lay eggs, their meat is not particularly popular.
Male chicks
are therefore systematically eradicated. In many cases, they are mechanically
shredded or crushed to death and used as animal feed.
At
Dresden's University Clinic, analytical chemist Gerald Steiner and his team are
working to prevent such mass culls of newborns by detecting the sex of chicks
before they hatch.
 |
Scientists
use a spectroscopic method, based on the analysis of scattered light
on blood
vessels, to determine the sex of chick embryos in the egg (AFP Photo/
John
Macdougall)
|
Steiner
uses a spectroscopic method, based on the analysis of scattered light on blood
vessels, to determine the sex of chick embryos in the egg.
Spectroscopy
is already used in cancer treatment as it helps to differentiate between
abnormal and healthy cells.
"If we
are able to identify a tumour, then why not the sex?" said Roberta Galli,
a physicist.
'95%
accuracy'
Several
teams of scientists -- including veterinarians, chemists, engineers and
physicists -- are collaborating on the project, which also includes the
participation of two private companies.
In the
laboratory, Galli and her colleague Grit Preusse take eggs out of the
refrigerator to demonstrate their technique.
 |
Scientists
use a spectroscopic method, based on the analysis of scattered light
on blood
vessels, to determine the sex of chick embryos in the egg (AFP Photo/
John
Macdougall)
|
The eggs
have already been incubated for three days and blood vessels had by now formed.
"But
not the nerve cells, so they can't feel pain," Steiner explained.
The team
believes that from an ethical point of view, it is preferable to decide the
chick's fate before, rather than after, it hatches.
Using a
laser beam, the scientists trace a small circle at the top of an egg, which
makes a little hole in the shell. Through this they can see veins in the yolk,
as well as detect the flutter of a tiny beating heart.
The egg is
then placed in a large black box -- the spectrometer -- and quickly, the
biochemical properties of the embryo's blood are displayed on a screen.
 |
Eggs
pictured after an incision by laser (L) and after a part of the shell is
removed
to allow analysis by spectrometer (AFP Photo/John Macdougall)
|
"To
the naked eye, we can't see the difference (between male and female embryos)
but the computer can, if it's programmed to do so," said Steiner.
His team
has been fine-tuning the programme over the past few years, and they now have
it down to an identification accuracy rate of 95 percent.
In a
process that should ultimately take just a few minutes, an egg containing a
male chick is discarded pre-birth, while one containing a female chick is fixed
up with a plaster and then returned to the incubator.
A few days
later, a chick that will one day be a laying hen hatches.
Steiner
believes that some use will eventually be found for the unwanted male embryos
-- be it as fish feed or even in shampoo.
'Piling
on pressure'
Beyond the
challenge of finding a technique that is minimally invasive and which would
allow the female "chicks to hatch and be in good health", another
important factor is that the method has to have the potential to be automated,
said Preusse.
 |
An egg is
placed on a Spectrometer at a lab
at the Carl Gustav Carus Faculty of Medicine
of the Dresden Institute of Technology
(AFP Photo/John Macdougall)
|
A start-up
in Dresden is currently working on developing the machines, which could one day
be used by poultry farmers.
But one big
question is -- when?
In Germany,
the timing also has political resonance.
With a
public that is increasing concerned about animal welfare, Agriculture Minister
Christian Schmidt had promised that by 2017, male chicks would no longer be
sent to be crushed.
At the same
time, Schmidt is refusing to impose an outright ban, and is rather counting on
Steiner's research -- which the ministry is funding -- to deliver.
"The
politicians are piling on pressure ahead of the 2017 elections," said Steiner,
who said he was getting phone calls "every week" from the ministry,
eager for an update.
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