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Artificial selection for improved energy efficiency is reaching its limits in broiler chickens.

ABSTRACT: Modern broiler chickens are a major animal husbandry success story, both in terms of efficient resource utilisation and environmental sustainability. However, continuing artificial selection for both efficiency and rapid growth will be subject to both biological limits and animal welfare concerns. Using a novel analytical energy flow modelling approach, we predict how far such selection can go, given the biological limits of bird energy intake and partitioning of energy. We find that the biological potential for further improvements in efficiency, and hence environmental impact reduction, is minimal relative to past progress already made via artificial selection. An alternative breeding strategy to produce slower-growing birds to meet new welfare standards increases environmental burdens, compared to current birds. This unique analytic approach provides biologically sound guidelines for strategic planning of sustainable broiler production.

SUBMITTER: Tallentire CW

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5773546 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Artificial selection for improved energy efficiency is reaching its limits in broiler chickens.

Tallentire C W CW Leinonen I I Kyriazakis I I

Scientific reports 20180118 1

Modern broiler chickens are a major animal husbandry success story, both in terms of efficient resource utilisation and environmental sustainability. However, continuing artificial selection for both efficiency and rapid growth will be subject to both biological limits and animal welfare concerns. Using a novel analytical energy flow modelling approach, we predict how far such selection can go, given the biological limits of bird energy intake and partitioning of energy. We find that the biologi ...[more]

PMID: 29348409

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Project description:A total of 360 male Ross 308 broiler chickens were used in a feeding study to assess the influence of macronutrients and energy density on feed intakes from 10 to 31 days post-hatch. The study comprised ten dietary treatments from five dietary combinations and two feeding approaches: sequential and choice feeding. The study included eight experimental diets and each dietary combination was made from three experimental diets. Choice fed birds selected between three diets in separate feed trays at the same time; whereas the three diets were offered to sequentially fed birds on an alternate basis during the experimental period. There were no differences between starch and protein intakes between choice and sequentially fed birds (P > 0.05) when broiler chickens selected between diets with different starch, protein and lipid concentrations. When broiler chickens selected between diets with different starch and protein but similar lipid concentrations, both sequentially and choice fed birds selected similar ratios of starch and protein intake (P > 0.05). However, when broiler chickens selected from diets with different protein and lipid but similar starch concentrations, choice fed birds had higher lipid intake (129 versus 118 g/bird, P = 0.027) and selected diets with lower protein concentrations (258 versus 281 g/kg, P = 0.042) than birds offered sequential diet options. Choice fed birds had greater intakes of the high energy diet (1471 g/bird, P < 0.0001) than low energy (197 g/bird) or medium energy diets (663 g/bird) whilst broiler chickens were offered diets with different energy densities but high crude protein (300 g/kg) or digestible lysine (17.5 g/kg) concentrations. Choice fed birds had lower FCR (1.217 versus 1.327 g/g, P < 0.0001) and higher carcass yield (88.1 versus 87.3%, P = 0.012) than sequentially fed birds. This suggests that the dietary balance between protein and energy is essential for optimal feed conversion efficiency. The intake path of macronutrients from 10-31 days in choice and sequential feeding groups were plotted and compared with the null path if broiler chickens selected equal amounts of the three diets in the combination. Regardless of feeding regimen, the intake paths of starch and protein are very close to the null path; however, lipid and protein intake paths in choice fed birds are father from the null path than sequentially fed birds.

Project description:Integrated breeding strategies are used to increase both the yield potential and stability of crops. Most of these approaches have a direct genetic basis. The utility of epigenetics in breeding to improve complex traits such as yield and stress tolerance is not clear. A better understanding of the status of the epigenome and its contribution to the agronomic performance would help in developing strategies to incorporate the epigenetic component of complex traits in breeding,Starting from isogenic canola lines, epilines were generated by selecting recursively during three generations for lines with a higher energy use efficiency and drought tolerance. These epilines were more energy use efficient, drought tolerant, high nitrogen use efficient, and higher yielding under suboptimal conditions. Moreover, these characteristics were transgenerational inheritable. Transcriptome comparison with a line selected for energy use efficiency only revealed common differentially expressed genes related to the onset of signaling events regulating stress tolerance. Genes related to salt, osmotic, abscisic acid and drought were specifically differentially expressed in the drought tolerant epilines. The status of the epigenome, scored as differential trimethylation of lysine 4 of histone 3, supports the energy use efficient and drought tolerant phenotype by facilitating transcription of the genes that are found to be differentially expressed.From these results it can be concluded that the epigenome can be shaped by selection to increase yield and stress tolerance. This acquired knowledge will support further development of strategies to incorporate epigenetics in breeding. SRA study accession: SRP052946, Bioproject: PRJNA273932. Two canola (Brassica napus L. spp. oleifera (Metzg) Sinsk. f. biennis) epilines with low respiration and high NAD(P)H content were selected. Grinded leaf material from 26 day-old control and both epilines was collected in triplicate and served as input for deep sequencing on Illumina GAIIx.

Project description:To meet the growing consumer demand for chicken meat, the poultry industry has selected broiler chickens for increasing efficiency and breast yield. While this high productivity means affordable and consistent product, it has come at a cost to broiler welfare. There has been increasing advocacy and consumer pressure on primary breeders, producers, processors, and retailers to improve the welfare of the billions of chickens processed annually. Several small-scale studies have reported better welfare outcomes for slower-growing strains compared to fast-growing, conventional strains. However, these studies often housed birds with range access or used strains with vastly different growth rates. Additionally, there may be traits other than growth, such as body conformation, that influence welfare. As the global poultry industries consider the implications of using slower growing strains, there was a need for a comprehensive, multidisciplinary examination of broiler chickens with a wide range of genotypes differing in growth rate and other phenotypic traits. To meet this need, our team designed a study to benchmark data on conventional and slower-growing strains of broiler chickens reared in standardized laboratory conditions. Over a 2-year period, we studied 7,528 broilers from 16 different genetic strains. In this paper, we compare the growth, efficiency, and mortality of broilers to one of two target weights (TW): 2.1 kg (TW1) and 3.2 kg (TW2). We categorized strains by their growth rate to TW2 as conventional (CONV), fastest-slow strains (FAST), moderate-slow strains (MOD), and slowest-slow strains (SLOW). When incubated, hatched, housed, managed, and fed the same, the categories of strains differed in body weights, growth rates, feed intake, and feed efficiency. At 48 d of age, strains in the CONV category were 835 to 1,264 g heavier than strains in the other categories. By TW2, differences in body weights and feed intake resulted in a 22 to 43-point difference in feed conversion ratios. Categories of strains did not differ in their overall mortality rates.

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Artificial selection for improved energy efficiency is reaching its limits in broiler chickens.

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Artificial selection for improved energy efficiency is reaching its limits in broiler chickens.

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