Use of infrared imaging for investigation of chicken embryo development

Abstract

The focus of this study is two-fold: first, to investigate the feasibility of thermal imaging for characterizing the development of chicken embryos; and second, to compare the effects of photo periods of 11 hours of light followed by 11 hours of darkness (11-11) versus 24 hours of darkness (24 dark) during the incubation cycle on embryo development. Previous reported work has used invasive methods, such as ultrasound, tomography, and MRI to study chicken embryos with some success. However, very little work has been reported on use of thermography, which is a non-invasive method. Results suggest that use of a cooling-heating-cooling cycle can reveal the anatomy of chicken embryos. A statistical comparison of image data from the two photo periods found no difference in the average cooling rates. However, the 11-11 group of eggs did hatch earlier overall than 24-dark group. Of the hatched eggs, all the chickens from the 24-dark group appeared to be in normal physical condition. However, two of the chickens from the 11-11 group appeared to have leg weakness shortly after hatching. Of these, one fully recovered the next day and the second remains the same after two days of observation. In addition, the second chicken took about 48 hours to fully emerge from its shell.

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