GENESYS - Preventing culling of day-old male layer chicks with pre-incubation gender determination

Abstract

"The poultry industry faces significant ethical and economic dilemmas due to the mass culling of day-old male layer chicks, driven by their lack of financial viability for meat production compared to specialised broiler chickens. This practice has raised severe animal welfare concerns owing to inhumane culling methods like maceration and gassing. To combat this issue, the GENESYS project was launched to develop a solution to prevent the culling of day-old male layer chicks through pre-incubation gender determination. The project employed various research techniques, including pilot studies, to gather comprehensive data on the challenges within the poultry industry, the limitations of existing gender determination technologies, and the legal, social, and ethical considerations surrounding this practice. Key findings highlighted the economic impracticality of rearing male layer chicks and the high costs and technical constraints associated with implementing in-ovo sexing technologies.

In response to these challenges, project GENESYS proposed a holistic solution leveraging machine learning and computer vision techniques to accurately predict the gender of layer chicks before incubation. With a solution like this, it is possible to enable selective incubation of female chicks, eliminating the need for culling while optimising resource utilisation and improving sustainability in poultry production. GENESYS aims to address ethical and economic concerns associated with culling day-old male layer chicks. This project can be construed as a significant step in facilitating the enhancement of the moral and financial standards of the poultry industry since it actualises the objective of resource wastage prevention and the reduction of the environmental impact of this farming. This excerpt covers the reasons behind the GENESYS project, its goals, and its expected results, which define the revolution in poultry farming practices that contribute to a more sustainable animal agriculture system. "