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. 2023 May 22;18(5):e0285726.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0285726. eCollection 2023.

Active sampling of volatile chemicals for non-invasive classification of chicken eggs by sex early in incubation

Eva Borras  1   2 , Ying Wang  3 , Priyanka Shah  4 , Kevin Bellido  3 , Katherine L Hamera  1   2 , Robert A Arlen  4 , Mitchell M McCartney  1   2   5 , Kristy Portillo  3 , Huaijun Zhou  3 , Cristina E Davis  1   2   5 , Thomas H Turpen  4
Affiliations

Active sampling of volatile chemicals for non-invasive classification of chicken eggs by sex early in incubation

Eva Borras et al. PLoS One. .

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°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.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Fig 1
Fig 1. Results of the use of active sampling in VOCs detection in Experiment A.
(a and b) PCA scores plot showing differences between active and non-active sampling: (a) and distribution of samples by sex (b). (c) PLS-DA scores plot applied to only active sampled eggs (using flow) shows initial differences between sex of the samples.
Fig 2
Fig 2. Results of Experiment B for VOCs detection.
(a and b) PCA scores plot showing differences between days of incubation (a) and sex (b). (c) PCA sores plots between egg storage process (fresh vs. SPIDES) within the different days of incubation.
Fig 3
Fig 3. PLS-DA models by sex using fertile samples from Experiment B.
(a) PLS-DA scores plot build using all fertile samples from Experiment B. (b) PLS-DA scores plot built using only eggs with Twisters® exposed during 2 min. (c) PLS-DA Y prediction boxplot showing the differences between male (Y = 0) and female (Y = 1) sample responses when applied to the model, using a Threshold value to discriminate.
Fig 4
Fig 4. Results of Experiment C for VOCs detection.
(a and b) PCA scores plot showing differences between tested conditions (a) and sex (b).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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