Eggshell translucency: its relationship with specific gravity and eggshell color and its influence on broiler egg weight loss, hatchability, and embryonic mortalities.

Eggshell quality is among the most important factors affecting hatchability in broiler breeders, and therefore several methods for its assessment are available in the poultry industry. Among them, eggshell translucency has received special attention in recent years due to its connection with ultrastructural disorganization of the shell layers. However, there is very limited data on the impact of translucency on hatching eggs and on the possible links between this trait and specific gravity (SG) or shell color.

Kinetic vitrification: concepts and perspectives in animal sperm cryopreservation.

Sperm cryopreservation is an important tool for genetic diversity management programs and the conservation of endangered breeds and species. The most widely used method of sperm conservation is slow freezing, however, during the process, sperm cells suffer from cryoinjury, which reduces their viability and fertility rates. One of the alternatives to slow freezing is vitrification, that consist on rapid freezing, in which viable cells undergo glass-like solidification.