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Gender, viability and/or developmental stage determination of avian embryos in ovo

a technology of avian embryos and developmental stages, which is applied in the field of determining the gender, developmental stage and/or viability of an avian embryo in ovo, can solve the problems of reducing the capacity of hatchery incubators, culling billions of male chicks every year, and not being able to reliably determine the gender and other characteristics of unhatched birds

Inactive Publication Date: 2015-09-17
IN OVO BV
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  • Summary
  • Abstract
  • Description
  • Claims
  • Application Information

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

The present invention is a process and materials that have advantages, including improved efficiency and cost-effectiveness. The specific embodiments of the invention described here are just a few examples, and there may be other embodiments not described in detail here. Similarly, the invention is not limited to the specific examples described and those skilled in the art can easily adapt it to their needs.

Problems solved by technology

Yet further, for commercial egg production, the incubation and rearing of male chicks is highly undesirable, leading to the culling of billions of male chicks every year.
Furthermore, there is a percentage of eggs that are unfertilized, or do not comprise a viable embryo at the beginning of the incubation period, which greatly reduces the capacity of the incubators at hatcheries.
Furthermore, although this technique may discriminate between live and non-live eggs, it does not allow to reliably determine the gender and other characteristics of the unhatched birds.
However, the disclosed process does not go beyond producing a base line for comparison of eggs of a not specified laying date, but simply establishes a base line for four amino acids.
Furthermore, the disclosed examination method is destructive in that the eggs with live embryos were not allowed to mature to hatchlings after examination, or used for other purposes, such as vaccine production.
While this may be feasible without destruction of the egg, the amounts of estrogenic steroid are minimal, and the test will only be successful after development of the gonads, hence at a comparatively late point in the development of the embryo.
This however is not a method to determine gender, viability and / or developmental stage of an avian egg.

Method used

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  • Gender, viability and/or developmental stage determination of avian embryos in ovo
  • Gender, viability and/or developmental stage determination of avian embryos in ovo

Examples

Experimental program
Comparison scheme
Effect test

example 1

Protocol Metabolic Profiling in Ovo

[0062]Gallus gallus domesticus eggs were incubated at 37.8° C., turning every hour, in an incubator model 50, commercially obtainable from MS Broedmachines V.O.F.

[0063]One group of 12 eggs was incubated for 9 days, a second group of 12 eggs for 10 days, and a third group of 12 eggs for 11 days.

[0064]Eggs were taken out of the incubator, placed in a paper holder, under a microscope, with the air sack up. The shell and membranes were punctured and broken open around the air sack, leaving the inner membranes intact. Using light, the blood vessels running over the inner shell membrane were located, and a small puncture avoiding the blood vessels was made through the inner and outer membranes into the allantoic cavity.

[0065]The egg was skewed and a 1 ml pipette was then used to blow air into the cavity, after which 1.5 to 2 ml of allantoic fluid was extracted using the pipette. This was transferred into a cryovial, which was immediately plunged into liq...

example 2

Protocol Metabolic Profiling in Ovo

[0069]Gallus gallus domesticus eggs were incubated at 37.8° C. at a commercial hatchery, turning every hour, in an industrial incubator commercially available from Petersime Nev. One group of 50 eggs was incubated for 8 days, a second group of 50 eggs for 9 days, and a third group of 50 eggs for 10 days.

[0070]Eggs were taken out of the incubator, placed in a plastic holder, under a microscope, with the air sack up.

[0071]The shell and membranes were punctured and broken open around the air sack, leaving the inner membranes intact. Using light, the blood vessels running over the inner shell membrane were located, and a small puncture avoiding the blood vessels was made through the inner and outer membranes into the allantoic cavity.

[0072]The egg was skewed and a 1 ml pipette was then used to blow air into the cavity, after which 1.5 to 2 ml of allantoic fluid was extracted using the pipette. This was transferred into a cryovial, which was immediately...

example 3

Determination of Embryo Age

[0084]Example 1 was repeated, however analysing the following developmental markers that were found relevant for the determination of the developmental stage, or age of the embryos.

TABLE 2Measured Data for Days 9 to 119 days (μM / mL,DevelopmentStandard deviation in10 days11 daysMarkerbrackets))(μM / mL)(μM / mL)Trimethylglycine0.75 (0.27)0.65 (0.2) 0.43 (0.13)(Betaine)Aspartate and9.35 (3.2) 7.72 (2.75)5.34 (3.91)AsparagineGlutamate and41.5 (7.71)37.1 (3.94)31.7 (5.33)GlutamineProline12.7 (2.69) 11 (1.58)9.02 (1.59)

[0085]The above data clearly indicates that the developmental stage of en embryo can be determined from one or more developmental markers.

[0086]A partial least square modelling, an unsupervised multivariate data analysis, was employed for the 1H NMR data to group samples based on all the metabolites detected in 1H NMR. The most important information obtained was the correlation between two data sets, i.e. the measured 1H NMR signals (metabolites) and...

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Abstract

The present invention relates to a process for the non-destructive determination of gender, developmental stage and / or viability of an avian embryo in an egg, comprising (a) detecting at least a first developmental marker compound selected from sugars and / or amino acids, precursors and metabolites thereof in an egg at a time period of from the beginning of the incubation of the egg until the hatching; (b) measuring the amount of the at least first detected developmental marker compound, and (c) comparing the amount to a base line established for male and female, developmental stage of the embryo, and / or alive and deceased or non-developed embryo, to determine whether the embryo is viable, male and / or female, and / or the developmental stage of the embryo.

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION[0001]The present invention relates to a process for the determination of the gender, developmental stage and / or viability of an avian embryo in ovo, by determining the presence of developmental markers in the egg, more specifically in the allantoic fluid. The present process further refers to a process for the determination of viability of an avian embryo, and the selection of male eggs and female eggs, and to the production of vaccines and / or chicks using these selected eggs.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0002]Fertilized eggs of most avian species, in particular those reared commercially, such as domesticated chicken (Gallus gallus domesticus), ducks, geese and turkeys tend to result upon hatching in an about equal distribution of male and female chicks. In hatchery management, it may be desirable to separate birds based upon various characteristics, in particular gender. It may for instance be desirable to inoculate male and female birds with different vaccines...

Claims

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Application Information

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IPC IPC(8): G01N33/483G01N33/50C12N7/00
CPCG01N33/4833G01N33/5091C12N7/00G01N33/50G01N33/6812G01N2400/00G01N2800/7071G01N2800/7076A01K45/00G01N33/487G01N33/08
Inventor BRUINS, WOUTER SEBASTIAANSTUTTERHEIM, WIL MARIJN
Owner IN OVO BV
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