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Poultry genetics and reproduction
Poultry breeding has been one of the most impactful advances in the last 100 years. The role that improved global production of eggs and poultry meat have in reducing global hunger and food insecurity is difficult to overstate. The vast majority of these improvements have come from genetic selection for improved feed efficiency, along with streamlining of the overall production system, and better understanding of poultry nutrition. While the industrial approach to poultry production has created a highly consistent and dependable food source the world over, several problems threaten the long term sustainability of this model - including musculoskeletal and metabolic disorders, welfare concerns, and the need to adapt to a changing climate. Researchers in poultry breeding and genetics utilize quantitative, population, and molecular genetic techniques to help understand the effects of selection for economically important traits and enhance genetic performance through changes in environment and management strategies.
1. Introduction Breeding programmes are designed to produce a broiler with high potential for growth, yield, and feed efficiency. These traits may compromise health status under husbandry designed to maximise this genetic potential, since there is a trade-off between growth- and health-related traits with responses to husbandry programmes, age, sex, and genetic line (Siegel et al., 2001). In this respect, it is well...
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by Sam Shafer
A new study published in Poultry Science® shows that body weight, residual feed intake, and feeding behavior traits are all highly heritable traits in Pekin ducks. The research, led by scientists at China Agricultural University and Beijing Golden Star Inc., may help guide the selection for certain feeding behaviors and further help producers improve feed efficiency in their flocks.
Pekin ducks are the leading breed of duck used for meat...
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1. Introduction Antimicrobial drugs have a prominent role within the veterinary and animal sciences as they have been used not only for therapeutic and preventive purposes, but also as growth promoters [1]. Although the European Union has banned the latter practice, it is unfortunately still common in other countries [2,3]. Tetracyclines are the main antimicrobial drugs currently in use for veterinary purposes. Sulfonamides and macrolides are the next most common...
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Modern genetics was conceived based on observations of heritable morphological traits of chickens. The next 100 years saw the development and application of quantitative genetics and molecular sciences, which has resulted in the many modern poultry products available in the marketplace. One must recognize that not only has the performance of poultry changed over time, but many other aspects of the world have also changed that affect production and performance...
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Introduction Outbreaks of infectious bursal disease (IBD), a significant contagious immunosuppressive disease of poultry, are still reported throughout the world despite efforts to control the disease through vaccination. Control efforts are complicated by the fact that the causative agent, infectious bursal disease virus (IBDV), an avibirnavirus consisting of two segments of double-stranded RNA [1], is subject to frequent genetic mutations, reassortment of genome segments, and...
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The chicken is a useful animal model for biological research and can be used to produce biopharmaceutical products that cannot be produced in mammalian bioreactor systems. Chicken meat and eggs derived from 70 billion chickens yearly are an important source of high quality protein, vitamins and minerals in the global economy. The ability to precisely edit the chicken genome to introduce or test genetic variants will aid the study of gene function, define combinatorial allelic contribution to...
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Introduction The poultry industry, more specifically, the broiler industry, plays a key role in the delivery of high quality protein and lipids to the world population. Per capita consumption of chicken meat of both developed and underdeveloped nations increased greatly from 1995 through 2005 (Scanes, 2007). This was, in part, because unlike red meats, there are no religious or cultural constraints associated with poultry meat consumption. Additionally, global prices of chicken...
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Background Avian coccidiosis impairs the growth and feed efficiency of infected chickens [1]. There were evidences that resistance to avian coccidiosis is associated with inheritance and coccidiosis resistant line could be established by selection [2]. The resistance to avian coccidiosis QTL has been identified near two microsatellite markers on chromosome 1 [3,4]. Associations between parameters of resistance to coccidiosis and single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in 3...
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Bill Shannon (BioRankings) talked about data analysis to generate testable hypotheses for gut health problems, during the 8th Symposium on Gut Health in Production of Food Animals in St. Louis, USA....
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Artificial insemination (AI), the foundation of modern-day turkey breeding, was first developed in 1937 at the Bureau of Animal Industry (now the Agricultural Research Service, US Department of Agriculture) by W. Burrows and J. Quinn. The procedure consists of two steps: first, the semen is collected from the tom and second, the semen is inseminated into the hen. What may transpire between collection and insemination, referred to as semen handling (semen transport, dilution, evaluation, and...
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INTRODUCTION Advancements in clinical veterinary medicine have resulted in portable diagnostic tools that provide rapid, cost-effective means to investigate metabolic disturbances using blood samples. The handheld i-STATR 1 (2006) analyzer (Abbott Laboratories, East Windsor, NJ) requires a relatively small blood sample (∼100 μL), can be performed “pen-side,” and may be useful in population medicine for commercial egg production systems. The i-STATR 1 has been...
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Introduction
Poultry meat is one of the most important protein sources in human diet and production is worldwide growing. Global poultry meat production in 2000 was 69 million tons and this increased to over 97 million tons in 2010 (Windhorst, 2011). This equates to an annual production of approximately 70 billion broilers originating from approximately 600 million broiler breeders. So a relatively small number of broiler breeders has...
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Background Avian influenza (AI) is a devastating disease and the current approach that is used to control it is based on isolation and extermination of affected flocks in order to stop the spread of the virus. Alternative approaches, including the use of vaccines, have been only 60% effective in chickens [1, 2] due to the high mutation rate of the virus and lack of cross-protection between viral strains. Moreover, most countries do not allow importation of vaccinated birds due...
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Background Egg quality has received more attention due to increased demands for safety and high-quality eggs by consumers. Internal egg quality involves functional, aesthetic and microbiological properties of the egg yolk and albumen. Internal inclusions (blood and meat spots) in the egg have been recognized as quality defects since 1899 [1]. In addition to being an aesthetic and ethical problem, there is indication that blood or pieces of tissue inside the egg may increase the...
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Background The major histocompatibility complex (MHC) is a polymorphic gene region that is conserved in all jawed vertebrates. The MHC is characterized by the presence of a number of conserved genes that have remained together during evolution. In chickens, MHC genes are divided into two large gene clusters, MHC-B and MHCY, which are located in separate haplotypes but on the same chromosome [1]. Many of these genes contribute to immune responses with specific alleles at some...
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The turkey industry has long taken advantage of the potential offered by artificial insemination, a strategic tool to select male and female lines, and also to optimize the production of broiler chicks. Indeed, artificial insemination in breeder turkeys has replaced natural mating for over 50 years as it virtually suppresses sexual behaviour constraints in the selection of male and female lines, facilitates high reproductive performance, and ultimately allows permanent optimization...
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The weather constitutes a complex system, which acts upon the bird & exert various detrimental effects on neuroendocrine, cardiorespiratory system. Rearing birds out of their thermal comfort zone could mean failing to leverage full genetic potential. Poultry production in the tropical and subtropical regions having biggest environmental challenge is heat stress which could reduce productivity and even increase the mortality tolls due to depressed...
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Introduction Regulatory T cells (Tregs) are critical for maintenance of immune-homeostasis and immunological tolerance by enforcing negative regulation on T helper (Th) cells. Transcription factor Foxp3 (Foxp3) is a lineage specific factor for human and murine CD4 + CD25 + Treg cells and is crucial for Treg development and function. TGF-beta can bind to the surface of human Foxp3 + Treg cells via GARP (LRRC32) a membrane anchoring molecule, and...
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