Abstract
The social behavior of animals, which is partially controlled by genetics, is one of the factors involved in their adaptation to large breeding groups. To understand better the relationships between different social behaviors, fear behaviors and production traits, we analyzed the phenotypic and genetic correlations of these traits in Japanese quail by a second generation crossing of two lines divergently selected for their social reinstatement behavior. Analyses of results for 900 individuals showed that the phenotypic correlations between behavioral traits were low with the exception of significant correlations between sexual behavior and aggressive pecks both at phenotypic (0.51) and genetic (0.90) levels. Significant positive genetic correlations were observed between emotional reactivity toward a novel object and sexual (0.89) or aggressive (0.63) behaviors. The other genetic correlations were observed mainly between behavioral and production traits. Thus, the level of emotional reactivity, estimated by the duration of tonic immobility, was positively correlated with weight at 17 and 65 days of age (0.76 and 0.79, respectively) and with delayed egg laying onset (0.74). In contrast, a higher level of social reinstatement behavior was associated with an earlier egg laying onset (-0.71). In addition, a strong sexual motivation was correlated with an earlier laying onset (-0.68) and a higher number of eggs laid (0.82). A low level of emotional reactivity toward a novel object and also a higher aggressive behavior were genetically correlated with a higher number of eggs laid (0.61 and 0.58, respectively). These results bring new insights into the complex determinism of social and emotional reactivity behaviors in birds and their relationships with production traits. Furthermore, they highlight the need to combine animal welfare and production traits in selection programs by taking into account traits of sociability and emotional reactivity.
Highlights
Behavioral characteristics such as group structure, sexual behavior or response to humans have facilitated the domestication of animals and their adaptation to farming conditions [1]
Regarding the tests on emotional reactivity, the duration of tonic immobility was significantly higher in HSR than in LSR quail
The estimated heritability values obtained in this study show the significant contribution of genetics to the phenotypic variability of all the behavioral traits
Summary
Behavioral characteristics such as group structure, sexual behavior or response to humans have facilitated the domestication of animals and their adaptation to farming conditions [1]. Despite being difficult to study in their native habitat, it appears that the Red Junglefowl (Gallus gallus), the ancestor of domestic hens, shows social structures with a small number of individuals of different ages and both sexes, with a strict hierarchy around a dominant male [2,3]. In modern farming systems, birds are mostly housed in large groups, sometimes of the same sex, and most often of the same age. These conditions may favor the expression of deleterious behaviors such as aggression, feather pecking and cannibalism in the most serious cases, which can affect both bird welfare and productivity [5,6]
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