Poultry 3, 4, 5 and 6 Flashcards
How do we select for moderate to high heritability traits
Via phenotypic selection
How do we select for sex limited or destructive traits or poorly heritable
Must use family selection i.e selecting sister line
What is BLUP in breeding
Best linear unbiased prediction
Used to work out the breeding value of chickens
What determines rates of progess in pedigree selection
Selection intensity
Heritability
What is the selection pressure (%) if maintaining an 1000 female population and producing 40,000 offspring
2.5%
What does a destructive trait mean
Destructive to get the data out e.g with disease resistance must do a disease challenge
Is body weight and egg production selection synergistic or antagonistic
Antagonistic
Is weight gain and feed conversion efficiency traits synergistic or antagonistic
Antagonistic
Is conformation and breast meat synergistic or antagonistic
Synergistic
Is breast meat and abdominal fat synergistic or antagonistic
Antagonistic
How many pure lines are involved in crossing to reach broiler level usually
4
How would additive genetics manifest if considering a broiler from 4 pure breed lines + example
The trait would be the mean of the performance in the 4 lines
e.g growth
How could heterosis work in crossing pure lines
Genes combine in the cross so can get a trait larger than the value of the two
e.g with egg production
Called hybrid vigour
What feed conversion rate is target for a 1kg of meat
1.5kg feed
(or 1.55)
WHat mortality rates should farmers aim for
3%
What do we need to be careful of when feeding broiler breeding stock
They have the genes for growth rate and feed conversion so LARGE APPETITE
But if they gain too much weight will impact on egg laying (their function) so need to control eating
How are males fed differently to females in broiler breeding
Fed much less
Because the genes for body weight and growth rate mostly run in male line so would get much heavier on the same feed as females
Main difference with feeding layer breeders vs broiler breeders
Don’t need to control body weight and feed nearly as much in layers (as don’t have genes for feed conversion)
What temperature should eggs be kept at on farm
Between 15 and 17*C
What is different about turkey breeding
All commercial turkeys in UK are bred via artificial insemination
What age do we rear broiler layers to before moving to laying accommodation
18 weeks
What age do we rear turkey breeders to before moving to laying farm
20 weeks
How do we breed pheasants
Keep in communal pens or small pens at ratio of 1 (cock):10
How do we breed partidges
Keep in pair boxes of one male and one female
How many days do we incubate chicken eggs (gallus gallus)
18 days
How is air movement in hatcheries controlled for hygiene
Higher pressure air at setter area (egg incubation)
Lower pressure air at the hatchers
SO air flows from the cleaner area to the dirtier area
+ air is filtered and conditioned for temperature and humidity in the different areas
How is embryo survival changes with storage time
Decreases
What angle are setter trays kept at and how often are they turned
45*
Turned every hour
After how many days setting are eggs transferred to hatcheries
18 days
At what stage would we do in ovo vaccination
When moving the eggs from setter trays to hatchery
What factors do hatchers need to control
Humidity: since it increases as chicks hatch must remove this
Temperature: removes heat because lots of embryo heat generated
At what day in relation to setting are chicks removed from hatch box
21 days
- May give probiotics
- Vaccinate if not done yet
What is the advantage of nest born systems i.e taking 18 day old eggs to farm to hatch directly into barn
Can access feed and water straight after hatching
What is the standard hatchability
85%
What factors should be considered when predicting hatchability
Age of the flock
Breed
What does egg breakout study mean
Take one tray that is representative of the whole flock and look at non hatch debris to assess at what stage the chick died