Industry

Question 1

UK poultry consumers

Answer 1

British consumers buy more poultry than any other meat

2019 per capita consumption poultry meat about half of total meat consumption

Pig meat second highest consumption

Question 2

Poultry meat produced per annum

Answer 2

1.64 million tonnes

Question 3

Eggs produced per annum

Answer 3

9755 million (630, 000 tonnes)

Question 4

Contribution of the poultry industry to UK GDP

Answer 4

£3.6 billion

Question 5

UK turkey production

Answer 5

dropped considerably as is mostly a festive meat in UK

Question 6

Commercial layers in UK

Answer 6

dropped to about 38 million now as retailers will not pay enough for eggs and farmers were making a loss

Question 7

Locational density of poultry industry

Answer 7

Primarily on the east coast as that is where the grain is grown.

Question 8

Structure of poultry industry

Answer 8

Stock has been selected specifically to produce eggs or meat

3 companies own most of the pedigree chickens of the whole world (about 80%), US, Germany, France. Control all the genetics for poultry meat production across the world. Extremely costly to run a genetics program.

Question 9

How many broilers will one pedigree female be responsible for?

Answer 9

4 million

Question 10

Pyramid of chickens

Answer 10

Pedigree (1)
Great grandparent (23)
Grandparent (725)
Parent (29,000)
Broilers (4m)

Question 11

Male reproductive anatomy (cockerel)

Answer 11

• Two testis, anterio-ventrally to the kidneys, epididymis dorsally on testis and connects to vas deferens
• Sperm produced throughout life
• ureters enter urodeal compartment relatively dorsally
• Vas open at the end of papilla located more ventrally
• phallus lies on ventral lip of the vent and is composed of interconnecting lymphatic channels

Question 12

Copulation

Answer 12

• During mating the phallus is everted by the male and the squatting female protruding her oviduct
• This is non-intromittent copulation as the phallus does not enter the cloaca of the female
• Sperm is then passed by from male to female by cloacal contact

Question 13

Sexual development

Answer 13

The testis of the cockerels enlarge very significantly at sexual maturity.
▪ Immature cockerel testis weight 1-2g
▪ Mature cockerel testis weight 15-20g

There is a clear correlation between testis size and sperm production and testis size is related to bodyweight.

If cockerels are mating frequently the amount of sperm in the ejaculate will be reduced

Bodyweight of cockerels must be managed to ensure maximum fertility.

Its important to ensure maturation of pullets and cockerels are matched to avoid problems:

Overmating of pullets (cockerels may be ready but the hens are not or the other way round)

Question 14

Why do breed companies produce BW profiles?

Answer 14

Rearing
Production

Question 15

Why are breeding chickens usually kept segregated by sex?

Answer 15

If you fed the males as much as the females they would get overweight, and females require more calcium for egg production

Question 16

Sex ratios

Answer 16

Usually at mating up cockerels will be housed at a ratio of 10% but this is reduced to a ratio of 8.5% by the onset of laying

Ratio of 11.7 pullets to 1 cockerel

Ratios are reduced through the life of the flock to remove debilitated and inactive cockerels

Question 17

Artificial insemination in poultry

Answer 17

Rarely used in commercial breeds of gallus gallus

It is used in commercial turkey operations as male commercial turkeys too big to mate naturally

Stags are usually milked once or twice a week, more frequent milking results in more motile healthy sperm

Semen is usually diluted ratio 50:50 with either commercial semen extenders or producer proprietary mixes containing sodium glutamate, glucose, fructose, and specialised buffers to maintain a pH around 7.0 and an osmotic pressure 400mOsm Kg-1 H2O

Since the semen is used the same day cryo-storage is not a factor.

Hen is inverted, straw with semen is inserted into the oviduct, semen injected

Question 18

Receptive hens

Answer 18

Squat when approached by the stag

The stag ‘treading’ will result in the hen everting her oviduct

If successful mating occurs then the hen will exhibit a typical shake

Question 19

Sperm assessment

Answer 19

Sperm number

Sperm viability (dead and abnormal should be less than 10%). This is done on using nigrosin-eosin staining

Motility

Fertility