Breeding poultry for improved input use efficiency and nutrient quality of products

Abstract

Poultry egg and meat are the two cheapest sources of animal proteins for non-vegetarians across the globe. The improvement of poultry production needs to be efficiently carried out for which various tools are to be adopted. Simple breeding theory inculcates mating among the superiors, which is being practiced since long before. Poultry improvement has gained momentum to augment the performance of birds not only in terms of production but also sustainability. Chickens are mainly classified as eggtype chicken and meat-types chickens. Along with the major production traits, other functional traits such as feed efficiency and nutrient quality of poultry produce are being given due emphasis to achieve the major target. Many conventional selection and breeding approaches have been adopted by the animal breeders to improve these traits. Due to the inherent nature of population and selection criteria, the rate of genetic progress became relatively slow and ultimately, the variability of pure line populations has been gradually shrunken. The nutritional approach maximizes the net profit of the poultry rearing by providing suitable niche to express the desired economic traits in optimum capacity. Recently, genomic selection and biotechnological approaches are showing high potential to enhance the productivity of birds at faster rate.