Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Genomics to Improve Poultry: a holistic approach to improve indigenous chicken production focusing on resilience to Newcastle disease
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Date
2024
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
World's Poultry Science Journal
Abstract
Small-scale poultry production in Africa plays a significant role in
alleviating malnutrition and poverty in rural communities. Global
climate change and infectious poultry disease such as Newcastle
disease (ND) have had tremendous negative impact on poultry
production and health due to limited biosecurity, cold chain, and
inadequate extension service. Genetic selection for enhanced resis tance to ND virus (NDV) offers a promising complementary
approach to vaccination and biosecurity in addressing constraints
in village production systems. The Feed the Future Innovation Lab
for Genomics to Improve Poultry (GIP IL) has led an effort on the
identification of genetic markers, genes and signalling pathways
associated with enhanced resistance to NDV by conducting NDV
challenging experiments in diverse inbred, commercial, and African
indigenous chickens. The GIP IL developed a comprehensive
genetic selection platform focusing on improved survival time
and reduced virus shedding in the face of NDV infection and on
enhanced growth rate and egg production. The programme
applied the platform for genetic selection and breeding of indigen ous chickens through velogenic NDV natural exposure trials. To
improve our understanding of the epidemiology of NDV in Africa,
we characterised circulating strains of the virus in Ghana and
Tanzania and identified NDV risk factors among local chickens.
These data contribute to a body of knowledge useful for guiding
disease control efforts, informing vaccine strategies, enhancing
biosecurity, and contributing to our overall understanding of NDV
dynamics. To gauge the demand for genetically improved
Description
Research Article
Keywords
Backyard, breeding, developing countries
Citation
Huaijun Zhou, Isabelle Baltenweck, Jack Dekkers, Rodrigo Gallardo, Boniface B. Kayang, Terra Kelly, Peter L. M. Msoffe, Amandus Muhairwa, James Mushi, Augustine Naazie, Hope R. Otsyina, Emily Ouma & Susan J. Lamont (22 Feb 2024): Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Genomics to Improve Poultry: a holistic approach to improve indigenous chicken production focusing on resilience to Newcastle disease, World's Poultry Science Journal, DOI: 10.1080/00439339.2024.2321350