Industry Flashcards
UK poultry consumers
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
Poultry meat produced per annum
1.64 million tonnes
Eggs produced per annum
9755 million (630, 000 tonnes)
Contribution of the poultry industry to UK GDP
£3.6 billion
UK turkey production
dropped considerably as is mostly a festive meat in UK
Commercial layers in UK
dropped to about 38 million now as retailers will not pay enough for eggs and farmers were making a loss
Locational density of poultry industry
Primarily on the east coast as that is where the grain is grown.
Structure of poultry industry
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.
How many broilers will one pedigree female be responsible for?
4 million
Pyramid of chickens
Pedigree (1)
Great grandparent (23)
Grandparent (725)
Parent (29,000)
Broilers (4m)
Male reproductive anatomy (cockerel)
- 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
Copulation
- 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
Sexual development
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)
Why do breed companies produce BW profiles?
Rearing
Production
Why are breeding chickens usually kept segregated by sex?
If you fed the males as much as the females they would get overweight, and females require more calcium for egg production
Sex ratios
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
Artificial insemination in poultry
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
Receptive hens
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
Sperm assessment
Sperm number
Sperm viability (dead and abnormal should be less than 10%). This is done on using nigrosin-eosin staining
Motility
Fertility
