Rotronic probes in incubation solutions

Overview

Incubation, normally understood as the hatching of eggs by keeping them warm, is an ancient technology with modern biotechnological applications. Rotronic’s world-renowned environmental measuring technology is at the heart of modern temperature, humidity and CO2 controlled incubation cabinets used in agricultural applications and also to promote bacterial growth in laboratories.

Background

The 12,000-year history of human agriculture and cultivation has been one of Mankind manipulating environmental factors. Levels of rain, sunshine, carbon dioxide (CO2) as well as soil quality defined the success rate of plant growth. Every organism has its specific requirements for optimal reproduction. Incubators have been used to artificially generate that ideal environment since the days of the ancient Egyptians, who learned that the rate of successful chicken hatching increased drastically when fertilized eggs were placed in big brick-built oven kept permanently heated. The Egyptian egg oven can be considered the earliest incubator, although in that case, only the temperature was controlled.

The use of incubation has become even more relevant in modern poultry farming, faced with ever-rising demand and productivity requirements, typified by the following:

• Adult chicken weight has doubled since 1934 and is averages now around 2.5kg
• US chicken consumption grew from 22kg per capita in 1980 to 39kg in 2011
• India’s poultry industry needs to expand by some 12-15% annually merely to satisfy national demand

Biotech applications

In the modern era, incubation technology has found other applications, notably in the laboratory and biotechnology, where incubation cabinets are used to promote the growth of bacteria, viruses and spores for research, diagnostic analysis or even drug production.

In laboratory and biotech processes, various elements need to be measured and controlled in order to provide an ideal environment for organisms to reproduce.

• Temperature: For incubators that are used for chicken hatching, temperatures from 37.2°C to 37.7°C are ideal for incubators with fan circulation. If the incubator has no fan 38.8°C is recommended for best results. For bacteria generally 35°C is best.
• Humidity: For growing bacteria, high levels of humidity are required, the majority need 90% rh (relative humidity) or higher. The widely known food poisoning bacterium, salmonella, only grows at 95% rh and above. For most molds, 80% rh is quite sufficient to promote growth. Humidity is also extremely important when hatching chicken eggs. Within the egg is a tiny air bubble that gets bigger during the growth of the embryo, but if the humidity level is to low the fluids that are essential to the final growth of the embryos are lost too quickly. A humidity level between 50-60% rh is considered ideal.
• Carbon dioxide: In nature, the CO2 level in a chickens nest is around 0.4% or 4000 parts per million (ppm) compared to the surrounding air that has only 400ppm. Keeping the CO2 level in an incubator between 4000ppm to 6000ppm is necessary for a normal development. Especially in late development of the eggs, the embryonic production of CO2 increases as incubation proceeds and therefore should be removed from the environment to keep the CO2 at a safe level. A controlled CO2 environment is also key in accelerating the development process in the research of cross-breeding or genetically modified (GM) plants.

Rotronic solutions

Rotronic offers a range of probes and sensors that enable incubator cabinets to finction at high standards of temperature, CO2 and releative humidity measurement, control and reporting. These include:

• XB OEM transmitter cable probe and unhoused PCB without housing provides a compact and high accuracy measurement and control solution with various selection possibilities, adaptable to a very wide range of incubation applications.
• CF8-D/W Model IN (Incubator) provides ventilation control to regulate CO2 balance in incubators and environmental chambers suitable for measurements in incubators or climate chambers.

Resources

Click on Rotronic measurement instruments for more information.
Click on Rotronic to contact the company directly.
Click on Products for more information on Rotronic measurement solutions.