Pre-hatch sexing for chicken based on immuno-interrogation

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Early sex identification is crucial for poultry production, since intensive selection of modern chicken lines for commercial production has resulted in highly divergent layer and broiler pedigree lines. However, the sex ratio after hatching remains approximately 1:1 and the resulting large-scale culling of male chicks in the industrial egg laying sector raises animal welfare and ethical concerns, and will be banned soon in France and Germany. Therefore, early (pre-hatch) sex identification is essential for these national industries, and to address ethical / animal welfare issues. The poultry industry is a major contributor to Canada's economy, producing poultry products worth $4.4 billion and contributing 7.1% of cash receipts to farming operations. The Canadian egg production industry is aiming to discontinue the practice of killing male chicks after hatching. Determination of the chick embryo sex using non-invasive or minimally invasive approaches before hatching is the focus of intensive research. In birds, the male and female genotype is ZZ and ZW, respectively; we have demonstrated that the sex of a chicken embryo can be predicted by detecting the presence of proteins specifically encoded on the W chromosome, using minute amounts of extra-embryonic tissue harvested from the chorioallantoic membrane (CAM) (Invention Disclosure file # UOTT.20.021; Ahmed and Hincke, background intellectual property). The objective of this research project will be to develop and validate an immunochemical approach to sex determination in ovo, by detecting the presence of CAM-specific protein(s) encoded on the W chromosome, at the earliest possible embryonic age. This NSERC Alliance proposal is jointly funded by Egg Farmers of Canada and the Canadian Poultry Research Council, with participation of the Canadian Poultry and Egg Processors Council (CPEPC).