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A novel approach for sexing chicken embryos on day one before incubation - saving them from being hatched and disposed of.

Project description

Detecting the gender of unhatched chicks

Chick sexing refers to the method used for distinguishing the sex of chickens once the chicks have hatched. New technology could change this, saving millions of euros and millions of male chicks from unnecessary incubation. After hatching, chicks manually identified as male are immediately disposed of because they are considered useless for both poultry and layer industries. An estimated 50 % of hatched eggs are lost in this way. The EU-funded eggXYt project will revolutionise the chicken industry by making it possible to detect embryo sex, obviating the need for artificial incubation. This technology uses a biomarker on the male chromosome of the embryo to identify the sex when it scans the egg.

Objective

eggXYt makes it possible to count your chicken before they hatch - saving the lives of 7 billion layer chicks, saving the industry billions of Euros & adding 7 billion eggs to the global supply.

Each year the Layer Chicken industry sends 14 billion fertile eggs to hatcheries, where they are incubated for 3 weeks & only after they are hatched, are they manually identified as male or female by human chicken sexers. This means that 50% of the eggs, the male chicks – which are useless for both poultry & layer industries – are immediately disposed of, wasting billions of Euros. This is a massive financial & ethical challenge.
eggXYt’s CRISPR based proprietary technology revolutionizes the chicken industry. Using a biomarker on the male chromosome of a chicken embryo, the sex of the chick is detectable once the egg is laid, & more importantly before the chick hatches. Scanning the egg through the shell, eggXYt is saving billions on incubation & manual sexing costs: 7 billion male chicks will be saved from unnecessary incubation & immediate killing, & the male non incubated eggs could be repurposed to be used in the food, animal feed, pharma or cosmetic industries. The eggXYt layers lay ethical “male chick culling free eggs” – in total, eggXYt’s technology creates a €300 billion opportunity.

eggXYt was successful in both scientific & business development, resulting in several global accolades & receiving funding from various sources. SMEi-1 (Grant Agreement 774906) was used for completing the feasibility study for this innovative project & confirming its viability as a significant business opportunity. The next objective is to create a market ready eggXYt version for commercial launch in strategic markets. Successful implementation of this SMEi-2 project should lead to achievement of annual net revenues of €20.5 million by end 2025 & the employment of 20 full-time staff.

Call for proposal

H2020-EIC-SMEInst-2018-2020

See other projects for this call

Sub call

H2020-SMEInst-2018-2020-2

Coordinator

EGGXYT LTD
Net EU contribution
€ 2 329 250,00
Address
36 KEREN HA YESOD STREET
92149 JERUSALEM
Israel

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SME

The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.

Yes
Activity type
Private for-profit entities (excluding Higher or Secondary Education Establishments)
Links
Total cost
€ 3 327 500,00