Abstract
BackgroundThere is increasing interest in the definition, measurement and use of traits associated with water use and drinking behaviour, mainly because water is a finite resource and its intake is an important part of animal health and well-being. Analysis of such traits has received little attention, due in part to the lack of appropriate technology to measure drinking behaviour. We exploited novel equipment to collect water intake data in two lines of turkey (A: 27,415 and B: 12,956 birds). The equipment allowed continuous recording of individual visits to the water station in a group environment. Our aim was to identify drinking behaviour traits of biological relevance, to estimate their genetic parameters and their genetic relationships with performance traits, and to identify drinking behaviour strategies among individuals.ResultsVisits to the drinkers were clustered into bouts, i.e. time intervals spent in drinking-related activity. Based on this, biologically relevant traits were defined: (1) number of visits per bout, (2) water intake per bout, (3) drinking time per bout, (4) drinking rate, (5) daily bout frequency, (6) daily bout duration, (7) daily drinking time and (8) daily water intake. Heritability estimates for most drinking behaviour traits were moderate to high and the most highly heritable traits were drinking rate (0.49 and 0.50) and daily drinking time (0.35 and 0.46 in lines A and B, respectively). Genetic correlations between drinking behaviour and performance traits were low except for moderate correlations between daily water intake and weight gain (0.46 and 0.47 in lines A and B, respectively). High estimates of breeding values for weight gain were found across the whole range of estimated breeding values for daily water intake, daily drinking time and water intake per bout.ConclusionsWe show for the first time that drinking behaviour traits are moderately to highly heritable. Low genetic and phenotypic correlations with performance traits suggest that current breeding goals have not and will not affect normal water drinking behaviour. Birds express a wide range of different drinking behaviour strategies, which can be suitable to a wide range of environments and production systems.
Highlights
There is increasing interest in the definition, measurement and use of traits associated with water use and drinking behaviour, mainly because water is a finite resource and its intake is an important part of animal health and well-being
In order to examine if it is possible to select birds with different drinking behaviours while maintaining the same or improved adjusted feed intake and weight gain during the water test period, we examined the relationships of the estimated breeding values (EBV) for four drinking behaviour traits with the EBV for Adjusted feed intake (AFI) and Weight gain during water test period (WWT)
This study suggests that, if desired, drinking behaviour traits of biological significance could be incorporated into genetic selection programmes for turkeys, since they are moderately to highly heritable
Summary
There is increasing interest in the definition, measurement and use of traits associated with water use and drinking behaviour, mainly because water is a finite resource and its intake is an important part of animal health and well-being Analysis of such traits has received little attention, due in part to the lack of appropriate technology to measure drinking behaviour. We described the definition of drinking behaviour traits that were recorded by using a system developed by Aviagen that measures the water use in turkeys individually [8] These traits were recorded at the level of visits to the water providing system, and included the amount consumed per visit, visit duration, number of visits per day and their distribution over time. The more time elapses from a previous drinking bout, the more likely does the behaviour occur again
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