Genetic Selection and Associated Defects in Poultry Production
A special issue of Animals (ISSN 2076-2615). This special issue belongs to the section "Poultry".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 December 2021) | Viewed by 13790
Special Issue Editors
Interests: cell signaling in myogenesis; genetic selection; poultry production; carbohydrate/lipid dysregulation and related disorders
Interests: nutritional biochemistry; broiler breeders; egg production; particle physical properties
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Genetic selection to improve the productivity of farm animals is practical and applicable in the animal industry. In the case of broiler chickens, intensive genetic selection for early rapid growth over the past decades has greatly increased growth rate and feed efficiency. The overall feed conversion rate is less than 1.8, and 2 kg market weight is reached within 6 weeks. This conversion rate of current broiler strains is at least 4-fold higher than that of Leghorn layers and their unselected ancestors in the 1950s. However, this genetically driven rapid growth rate is collaterally associated with many undesirable consequences, such as a higher incidence of ascites, tibial dyschondroplasia (TD), skeletal deformities, fatty liver and kidney syndrome, obesity, necrotic enteritis, and poor reproductive performance. The severity of these defects is further exacerbated in adult breeders. Despite numerous genomic studies with annotation in molecular regulation loops, comprehensive mechanisms for cellular, physiological, and functional validation remain elusive. In other species such as layers, turkeys, and ducks, selection for a certain productive performance is also inevitably associated with undesirable defects such as TD and cardiomyopathy. In the recent decade, selection for better productivity in domestic animals has been raised to a higher plane with the issues of animal welfare. This may drive more studies to focus on the aspect linking selection to animal physiology and welfare.
Topics of this Special Issue will cover a wide range of interests, for example, the genetic effects of poultry species on animal reproduction, nutrition, immunology, physiology, pathology, and welfare.
Prof. Shuen Ei Chen
Prof. Rosemary L. Walzem
Guest Editors
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Keywords
- poultry genetic disorders
- poultry production
- broiler chickens
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