This $300,000 project grant from the United States Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture will fund research at the University of Illinois to develop hyperspectral imaging technology for early prediction of chick sex and embryonic mortality in poultry hatcheries.
Approximately 300 million male layer chicks are culled annually in the U.S., considered a wasteful and animal welfare issue. The university will research using hyperspectral imaging and multispectral real-time imaging to enable non-invasive sensing of hatching egg characteristics for early sex prediction and detection of non-viable embryos. Success could minimize ethical concerns by alleviating the hatching and killing of male chicks, and make the poultry industry more economically sustainable. Funded under the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative competitive grants program, this research aims to address food and agricultural sciences issues using applied and foundational studies.
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