Kittelsen Käthe Elise, Moe Randi Oppermann, Hansen Tone Beate, Toftaker Ingrid, Christensen Jens Peter, Vasdal Guro
Animalia-The Norwegian Meat and Poultry Research Centre, Lorenveien 38, NO-0585 Oslo, Norway.
Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, NMBU-Norwegian University of Life Sciences, PO Box 8146 dep., NO-0033 Oslo, Norway.
Animals (Basel). 2020 Nov 23;10(11):2192. doi: 10.3390/ani10112192.
The presence of keel bone fractures (KBF) in laying hens has been documented and discussed by several authors, nevertheless the causative factors behind KBF remain uncertain. High prevalence of KBF have been reported in all commercial egg production systems, in different genetic lines and at different ages. Several of the proposed causal mechanisms behind KBF are linked to selection for efficient production. It is, therefore, of interest to explore whether less selected breeds have a lower occurrence of keel bone fractures compared to reports from highly selected, modern laying hen breeds. Thus, the aim of the current study was to investigate keel bones of hens from four non-commercial layer breeds. Birds were housed in furnished cages and keel bones examined at 30 and 63 weeks of age, using a portable X-ray equipment. The results from this descriptive study indicate a low prevalence of KBF at both ages in all four breeds, with only five KBF detected in 213 X-ray pictures taken from 126 birds. Of these, four of the KBF were observed in the most genetically selected breed, with an early onset of lay. None of the roosters examined exhibited KBF. The overall low numbers of KBF found indicate that genetic factors may be involved in KBF and, thus that selective breeding may help to reduce the susceptibility to KBF. Finally, this study highlights the importance of poultry conservation to secure genetic diversity, which may be an important resource in future selection schemes.
多位作者已记录并讨论了蛋鸡龙骨骨折（KBF）的存在情况，然而KBF背后的致病因素仍不明确。在所有商业蛋鸡生产系统、不同遗传品系以及不同年龄段中，均有关于KBF高发生率的报道。KBF背后几种提出的因果机制都与高效生产的选育有关。因此，探究与高度选育的现代蛋鸡品种相比，较少选育的品种龙骨骨折发生率是否更低是很有意义的。所以，本研究的目的是调查四个非商业蛋鸡品种母鸡的龙骨。将鸡饲养在配备家具的笼子里，并在30周龄和63周龄时使用便携式X射线设备检查龙骨。这项描述性研究的结果表明，所有四个品种在两个年龄段的KBF发生率都很低，在从126只鸡拍摄的213张X射线照片中仅检测到5处KBF。其中，4处KBF出现在遗传选育程度最高且产蛋较早的品种中。所检查的公鸡均未出现KBF。发现的KBF总数较低表明遗传因素可能与KBF有关，因此选育可能有助于降低对KBF的易感性。最后，本研究强调了家禽保护对于确保遗传多样性的重要性，这可能是未来选育计划中的一项重要资源。
