Growth Performance Analysis of Two Italian Slow-Growing Chicken Breeds : Bianca di Saluzzo and Bionda Piemontese
Articolo
Data di Pubblicazione:
2020
Citazione:
Growth Performance Analysis of Two Italian Slow-Growing Chicken Breeds : Bianca di Saluzzo and Bionda Piemontese / D. Soglia, S. Sartore, S. Maione, A. Schiavone, S. Dabbou, J. Nery, L. Zaniboni, S.P. Marelli, P. Sacchi, R. Rasero. - In: ANIMALS. - ISSN 2076-2615. - 10:6(2020 Jun), pp. 969.1-969.16.
Abstract:
Bianca di Saluzzo (BS) and Bionda Piemontese (BP) are two Italian chicken breeds, mainly
reared for meat production, primarily in antibiotic‐free farming. However, technical information on
their growth pattern is still missing. At hatching, 150 unsexed chicks of each breed were weighed,
labeled, and reared in indoor pens up to 8 w of age. At 8 w of age, the chicks were separated by sex
and randomly transferred to growing pens with access to an external paddock (15 birds/pen; 4
pens/sex for each breed). The body weight (BW) was recorded biweekly for each bird, from hatching
to 32 w of age. In order to identify an improvement strategy, the objectives of our study were to
analyze the growth pattern of these birds using the Gompertz mathematical model and compare
results with other chicken breeds. Polymorphism of the PAX7 gene was also analyzed to test its
association with growth traits. Both BS and BP are close to unselected native breeds and, among the
Italian local poultry, they are confirmed to be slow‐growing birds with an intermediate size between
heavy and light chicken breeds. Regarding the PAX7 gene, two alleles were found, F and G, and
showed an association with the actual BW in the BP females from 14 w of age onwards. The G allele
always exhibited a more favorable effect than the F allele. In small size poultry population, a delicate
balance between preservation of biodiversity and performance improvement should be considered.
Consequently, the most proper way could be an approach based on a mating scheme to keep
inbreeding under control, increase growth rate, and improve commercial maturity.
Tipologia IRIS:
01 - Articolo su periodico
Keywords:
poultry; Gompertz model; growth; local breeds; PAX7; conservation value
Elenco autori:
D. Soglia, S. Sartore, S. Maione, A. Schiavone, S. Dabbou, J. Nery, L. Zaniboni, S.P. Marelli, P. Sacchi, R. Rasero
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