New Test on Feather Helps Determine Bird Sex

Scientists in Germany are reporting development of test that can answer one of the most frustrating questions in the animal kingdom: "Is that bird a boy or a girl".

Their study, a potential boon to poultry farmers and bird breeders, is scheduled for the Feb. 15 issue of ACS´ Analytical Chemistry, a semi-monthly journal.

Juergen Popp and colleagues point out that the boy-girl question can be difficult to answer in birds that lack distinctive, gender-related plumage.

Since birds lack external genital organs, sexing a bird typically involves endoscopic examination of the animal´s gonads under general anesthesia or specific molecular biological methods. Since these methods are expensive, time-consuming, and stressful for the bird, scientists long have sought a quick, minimal-invasive sexing alternative.

In the new study, researchers describe such a test, which involves analysis of tissue pulp from birds´ feathers using a highly sensitive lab instrument. The method, called ultraviolet-resonance Raman (UVRR) spectroscopy, took less than a minute, and identified the birds´ sex with 95 percent accuracy, the scientists say.

The different DNA content in male and female chicken allows for gender differentiation via its characteristic Raman fingerprint.

Published 02/05/2008

Source: EurekAlert