The chicken and egg selections in your local supermarket are very much a matriarchate . Male chicks do not lay eggs and do n’t pack on enough kernel to make them attractive to raise for pulmonary tuberculosis . As a result , they ’re typically destroy inwaysthat would make anyone cringe — the chicks are often either suffocated with accelerator pedal or sent into a mulcher to become feed .
That could soon alter , thanks to an innovation spearheaded by German scientists . A new , “ no - kill ” bollock is now on sale in Berlin , and it may give the potency to terminate the exercise of discarding virile chicks by identifying their sexual activity before hatching .
allot toThe Guardian , a patented cognitive process dubbed “ SELEGGT ” can pinpoint the sexuality of a biddy just nine day after an egg has been fertilized . Female eggs go on to concoct ; male eggs are work for animal feed . The appendage would rule out the unrecorded culling of male chicks after hatching .
SELEGGT was championed by the REWE Group , a retail franchise that was look to increase the sustainability of its egg . REWE consulted with the University of Leipzig , where scientist developed a method of detection exchangeable to a pregnancy test . A chemical mark detects a hormone sleep together asestrone sulfatethat ’s present in high quantities in distaff eggs . Fluid take from the egg is mixed with the marker and put up a color - coded identification of the sex — blue for distaff , white for male person . The truth rate is tell to be 98.5 percent .
REWE then sought out a way to do the test at a speed suited for mass production . Instead of using a phonograph needle , a laser create a 0.3 mm muddle in the shell , with air insistence forcing a lilliputian amount of fluid from the opening . An testicle can be sampled in just one mo without being touched .
The first grouping of hens that were put up without stimulate to down any hatched manlike chicks appear originally this yr . Their bollock , sold under the label “ Respeggt , ” snuff it on sales event in November , with design to expand throughout Europe . grant to REWE , the process add together only a few cent to the cost of a cartonful .
Other companies have made similar advancements : Vital farm in Austin is work on identifying gases leaking through eggs pores that can determine sex in just two day — but SELEGGT is the first to add up to food market . As one or more of these strategies are implemented throughout the poultry industry , it ’s hoped that the practice of manful chick culling will be eliminated .
[ h / tThe Guardian ]
