Patent DE-102010006161-B3 (DE)
Title: Determining gender of fertilized and non-incubated bird eggs, where egg has yolk surrounded by egg shell and embryonic disk arranged to yolk, by guiding probe into egg shell through hole in direction to the disk with embryonic disk cells
Inventor: STEINER GERALD
IPC: G01N21/35
Filed: 2010-01-21
Granted: 2011-01-13
Abstract: The method for determining the gender of fertilized and non-incubated eggs (13) of the birds, where the egg has a yolk (2) surrounded by an egg shell (14) and an embryonic disk (3) arranged to the yolk, comprises guiding a probe (4) into the egg shell through a hole in direction to the embryonic disk with embryonic disk cells for measuring a spectrum, positioning the probe in the area of the embryonic disk, spectroscopically in-ovo characterizing the embryonic disk cells, and detecting the gender by an automatic classification of the spectra. The probe is an optical crystal. The method for determining the gender of fertilized and non-incubated eggs (13) of the birds, where the egg has a yolk (2) surrounded by an egg shell (14) and an embryonic disk (3) arranged to the yolk, comprises guiding a probe (4) into the egg shell through a hole in direction to the embryonic disk with embryonic disk cells for measuring a spectrum, positioning the probe in the area of the embryonic disk, spectroscopically in-ovo characterizing the embryonic disk cells, and detecting the gender by an automatic classification of the spectra. The probe is an optical crystal, with which a rapid and retroaction free recording of an infrared- and/or near-infrared spectrum is carried out in the area of the embryonic disk when using an attenuated total reflection within the optical crystal through an evanescent field. The extinction takes place as a result of spectral absorption of gender-specific embryonic disk cells, where the positioning step is accompanied by a permanent automatic evaluation of the reguided spectra up to the determination of the gender-specific embryonic disk cells until the gender of the fertilized egg is evaluated by an evaluation unit and is clearly displayed by a display unit. The automatic positioning of the optical crystal is carried out so long with crystal tip or exit surface in relation to the embryonic disk cells until the evanescent field of the total reflection at the crystal tip or exit surface detects the embryonic disk and the crystal is brought into a final disk allocation position, in which the evanescent field enters in interaction with the embryonic disk cells. The disk allocation positioning of the optical crystal is aligned in all space directions to precisely hit the embryonic disk. During the positioning step, the permanent reguided infrared- and/or near-infrared spectra are recorded and fed to an evaluation, where the automatic classification of the total-reflection spectra takes place based on the spectral fingerprint in proteins, lipids and nucleic acids. During the gender-specific absorption of the occurring infrared- and/or near-infrared light, the embryonic disk cells are identified based on the absorption bands of nucleic acids, so that the gender of the tested egg is determined and displayed. The evaluation step is carried out in the evaluation unit using infrared- and/or near-infrared spectroscopy or Fourier-transform-infrared spectroscopy. The eggs are simultaneously measured in a field configuration and are spatially measured from each other, where the field-like spaced apart optical crystals are assigned and are coupled with a separate optical fiber. The light is guided to infrared- and/or near-infrared-sensitive detector having field-like spaced detector elements or pixels using mirrors or mirror systems for beam deflection of spectral light source in and after the gender-specific absorption. An independent claim is included for a device for determining the gender of fertilized and non-incubated eggs of the birds.