Abstract
Simple SummaryThe European Cooperation in Science and Technology (COST) Action GroupHouseNet aims to provide synergy among scientists to prevent damaging behavior in group-housed pigs and laying hens. One goal of this network is to determine how genetic and genomic tools can be used to breed animals that are less likely to perform damaging behavior on their pen-mates. In this review, the focus is on feather-pecking behavior in laying hens. Reducing feather pecking in large groups of hens is a challenge, because it is difficult to identify and monitor individual birds. However, current developments in sensor technologies and animal breeding have the potential to identify individual animals, monitor individual behavior, and link this information back to the underlying genotype. We describe a combination of sensor technologies and “-omics” approaches that could be used to select against feather-pecking behavior in laying hens.Damaging behaviors, like feather pecking (FP), have large economic and welfare consequences in the commercial laying hen industry. Selective breeding can be used to obtain animals that are less likely to perform damaging behavior on their pen-mates. However, with the growing tendency to keep birds in large groups, identifying specific birds that are performing or receiving FP is difficult. With current developments in sensor technologies, it may now be possible to identify laying hens in large groups that show less FP behavior and select them for breeding. We propose using a combination of sensor technology and genomic methods to identify feather peckers and victims in groups. In this review, we will describe the use of “-omics” approaches to understand FP and give an overview of sensor technologies that can be used for animal monitoring, such as ultra-wideband, radio frequency identification, and computer vision. We will then discuss the identification of indicator traits from both sensor technologies and genomics approaches that can be used to select animals for breeding against damaging behavior.
Highlights
Damaging behaviors, such as feather pecking (FP) in laying hens, lead to welfare and economic problems in commercial poultry production
We describe a combination of sensor technologies and “-omics”
It is expected that the incidence of damaging behavior like FP will increase, especially due to increased use of housing in large groups as a consequence of bans on conventional cages worldwide and the ban on beak trimming in many European countries, for example in Sweden, Switzerland, and the Netherlands
Summary
Damaging behaviors, such as feather pecking (FP) in laying hens, lead to welfare and economic problems in commercial poultry production. Accelerometers, RFID, UWB, and geographic information systems (GIS) have been used, fitting birds with a body-worn sensor to monitor individual behavior patterns [19,20,21]. These systems have not been widely applied in commercial situations, because it is difficult and expensive to upscale to commercial flock size since one sensor per bird is needed. New developments in the field of animal breeding can aid in linking information obtained from sensor technologies to an individual’s genotype This could help us to identify regions or gene expression patterns that provide further insights into FP behavior and provide tools to reduce the incidence of FP behavior. We will describe the use of “-omics” approaches to understand FP, give an overview of sensor technologies that can be used for phenotyping, discuss the identification of indicator traits from both “-omics” and sensor technologies, and discuss applications to animal breeding
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