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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.
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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Murray R. Bakst
USDA - United States Department of Agriculture
USDA - United States Department of Agriculture
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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Neil O'Sullivan
Hy-Line
Hy-Line
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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Rick van Emous
Wageningen University & Research
Wageningen University & Research
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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Janet Fulton
Janet Fulton and 3 more
Hy-Line
Hy-Line
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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Neil O'Sullivan
Hy-Line
Hy-Line
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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Janet Fulton
Janet Fulton and 1 more
Hy-Line
Hy-Line
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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Dr. John Maurer
University of Georgia
University of Georgia
Mycoplasmas are bacteria characteristic for their lack of a cell wall, small size, and small genome (1). These pathogens are evolutionarily related to the low-%GC Gram-positive Clostridiales (2), and they are highly host specific and tend to inhabit mucosal surfaces within their host (1). Within the poultry industry, the ability of Mycoplasma gallisepticum to infect the respiratory and reproductive tracts of several avian species has made it a pathogen of great...
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When a problem occurs in hatchability, usually it can be categorized as a hatchery, egg handling, or breeder flock problem. If the problem has originated within the breeder flock, it is probable that it happened at least 6 weeks earlier, assuming 5 weeks of incubation and 1 week of egg storage. This delay in identifying a problem is costly and may even make it impossible to determine the cause if the effect is of short duration. It is necessary to identify the problem as early as...
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Professor Darren Griffin
University of Kent
University of Kent
Introduction Many of the genes involved in immunity are part of multigene families. In some families, each gene is conserved for a specific function dedicated to a particular outcome, in others allelic polymorphism and copy number variation allow rapid evolution in response to new challenges, and in still other families both kinds of genes are found. Some well-characterised examples for adaptive immunity include genes of the major histocompatibility complex (MHC). For example,...
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Tom Tabler
University of Tennessee (USA)
University of Tennessee (USA)
Introduction Agricultural dust is generated in animal production facilities (Cambra-Lopez et al., 2010). Inhalation exposure to agricultural dust induces pulmonary inflammation and can lead to the development of chronic respiratory diseases (Palmberg et al., 1998; Redente and Massengale, 2006; Poole and Romberger, 2012). Several studies have demonstrated that agricultural workers, particularly poultry workers, have a...
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Mark Geier
Mark Geier and 2 more
University of Adelaide
University of Adelaide
Background The avian ceca generally have a more important role in digestion than the cecum in most mammals. Avian ceca are usually finger-shaped blind pouches, presenting as lateral extensions at the junction of the small and large intestine and are commonly present in pairs. In birds the ceca vary considerably in size and morphology; ranging from very long, such as in most domestic poultry, to completely absent, such as in pigeons and parrots [1]. In the chicken, they reach...
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Dr Venugopal Nair
Imperial College London
Introduction All known viruses share an absolute requirement for host cell ribosomes and are exquisitely dependent on cellular translation factors to meet their synthetic needs. Faced with this dependency, viruses have evolved strategies to commandeer the host translational apparatus [1, 2]. Studies of viral subversion of host protein synthesis machinery have not only revealed key steps in viral pathogenesis, but also...
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Dr. Shayan Sharif
Poultry Health Research Network
Poultry Health Research Network
Introduction Vitamin D is a naturally synthesized lipid soluble vitamin and has a broad range of physiological properties, including profound effects upon immune system [1–3]. Ultraviolet B (UV-B) irradiation of epidermal cells constitutes the primary step for photolytic conversion of 7-dehydrocholesterol to Vitamin D. Modern poultry farming practices have led to an increase in density housing with minimal ultraviolet light B (UV-B) exposure. Thus, eggs produced from...
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