(FOA)-FFAR
– Egg-Tech Prize: New Technologies for In Ovo Sex
Determination; May 15, 2019
Agency
Foundation
for Food and Agriculture Research (FFAR)
Description
Egg
industry workers are currently only able to identify a chick’s sex after it
hatches. If egg hatcheries had a technology to determine the chick’s sex on the
day it is laid, over 6 billion male eggs could be used for food, animal feed or
vaccine production. It would also reduce the cost and carbon footprint of
incubating layer eggs. Current approaches to solving this challenge range from
gene-editing to measuring an egg’s hormone levels to determine its sex.
However, these proposed solutions have drawbacks that prevent global adoption.
An ideal solution would determine a chick’s sex early in development, before
hatcheries invest in incubation and without genetically modifying the poultry
genome. Recent advancements in sensor technologies, engineering and biological
sciences suggest that it is possible to develop a technology that both
successfully determines an egg’s sex before it hatches and can be integrated
into existing production systems.
This
program will support research projects that seek to develop a technology
capable of identifying the sex of poultry prior to incubation. For Phase I, we
anticipate the following:
•
The
technology will be highly accurate (high sensitivity and specificity)
•
Functions
prior to incubation of eggs at 37-38 °C
•
Is
capable of processing 2,000 eggs per hour
•
Ideally
non-invasive/does
not penetrate the eggshell
Matching
funds are not required.
Closing
Date
May
15, 2019
Link
to Full Announcement
https://foundationfar.org/egg-tech-prize/
Contact
Information
Dr.
Timothy Kurt