Poultry biodiversity for alternative farming systems development

Edoardo Fiorilla,Martina Tarantola,Cesare Castellini,Achille Schiavone,Dominga Soglia,Cecilia Mugnai,Silvia Mioletti,Stefano Nurisso,Alice Cartoni Mancinelli,Paola Sacchi,Barbara Miniscalco,Marco Birolo,Maristella Baruchello,Stefano Sartore,E Macchi ,R.d Vargas Franco

doi:10.1051/e3sconf/202233500004

Edoardo Fiorilla, Martina Tarantola + Show 14 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1051/e3sconf/202233500004

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Abstract

Poultry biodiversity represents a key factor to improve poultry resilience and promote sustainable and low input farming systems. The EU and member states promote protection of livestock biodiversity and the development of alternative farming through funding projects such as “Local Chicken Breeds in Alternative Production Chain: Welfare, Quality and Sustainability” (funded by the Italian Ministry of Research and University). The aim of the present research was to identify among five different poultry genotypes Bionda Piemontese (BP), Robusta Maculata (RM), RM x Sasso (RMxS), BP x Sasso (BPxS) and a commercial hybrid (Ross 308) the best suitable breed in terms of productivity and welfare for alternative housing system. A total of 300 (60 x genotype), 21 days old male birds were randomly allotted in two housing systems: 1) standard intensive farming (controlled environment, 33 kg/m2 and standard diet) and 2) free-range (“natural” environmental conditions, 21 kg/m2, access to outdoor area and low-input diet). Slaughtering was performed at 81 days of age. During the trial, the productive performance and behaviour of the animals were evaluated. The housing system, the genotype and their interaction significantly affected many of the studied variables, showing broiler not the ideal genotype for extensive farming system, which is more suited for low/medium performance strains.

Highlights

The final live weight (LW), the feed intake (FI) and the feed conversion ratio (FCR) differed between genotypes with higher values for Ross 308 compared to Local Breeds (LBs) and their crossbred, in both conventional and freerange systems
Our results clearly demonstrate that Ross birds increase their mortality in free-range system, whereas in the same system, LBs and their crossbred increased their productive performance with the lowest mortality and better welfare
These findings clearly show how high-performance strains (HPS) such as Ross 308 can give unparalleled meat yields in conventional system, with high quality feed, controlled environment, and short life cycle

Summary

Introduction

The main phenomena related to intensive farming are deforestation, greenhouse gasses emissions, excessive consumption and pollution of land and water [1] Another side effect of this process is the reduction of genetic variability and the consequent vulnerability of animals to environmental stress [2]. Poultry farming has a better environmental impact than other animal production chains thanks to the high efficiency in converting feed into meat or egg. The shorter production cycle and the strong genetic selection carried out to increase production performance represent an advantage over ruminant or swine farming. The shorter production cycle and the strong genetic selection carried out to increase production performance represent an advantage over ruminant or swine farming This is evident in the poultry meat production, modern broilers reach slaughtering weights in short cycles of about 40 days with a high percentage of meat yield [3]. In addition to all the benefits listed above these high-performance strains (HPS) show welfare and health issues, skeletal imbalances, metabolic disorders, and muscle abnormalities, which affect the appearance of the meat, nutritional traits, and acceptance by consumers [4, 5]

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