Xiong Xia, Yu Chunlin, Qiu Mohan, Zhang Zengrong, Hu Chenming, Zhu Shiliang, Yang Li, Peng Han, Song Xiaoyan, Chen Jialei, Xia Bo, Wang Jiangxian, Qing Yi, Yang Chaowu
Animal Breeding and Genetics Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province, Sichuan Animal Science Academy, Chengdu 610066, China.
Chengdu Livestock and Poultry Genetic Resources Protection Center, Chengdu 610081, China.
Animals (Basel). 2024 Dec 15;14(24):3615. doi: 10.3390/ani14243615.
In this study, we combined genomic and gut microbiome data to evaluate 13 economically important growth and feed efficiency traits in 407 Dahen broilers, including body weight (BW) at four, six, nine, and ten weeks of age (BW4, BW6, BW9, and BW10), as well as the average daily gain (ADG6, ADG9, and ADG10), feed conversion ratio (FCR6, FCR9, and FCR10), and residual feed intake (RFI6, RFI9, and RFI10) for the three growing ages. The highest ADG and lowest FCR were observed at nine and six weeks of age, respectively. We obtained 47,872 high-quality genomic single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) by sequencing the genomes and 702 amplicon sequence variants (ASVs) of the gut microbiome by sequencing the 16S rRNA gene, both of which were used for analyses of linear mixed models. The heritability estimates (± standard error, SE) ranged from 0.103 ± 0.072 to 0.156 ± 0.079 for BW, 0.154 ± 0.074 to 0.276 ± 0.079 for the ADG, 0.311 ± 0.076 to 0.454 ± 0.076 for the FCR, and 0.413 ± 0.077 to 0.609 ± 0.076 for the RFI traits. We consistently observed moderate and low negative genetic correlations between the BW traits and the FCR and RFI traits (r = -0.562 to -0.038), whereas strong positive correlations were observed between the FCR and RFI traits (r = 0.564 to 0.979). For the FCR and RFI traits, strong positive correlations were found between the measures at the three ages. In contrast to the genomic contribution, we did not detect a gut microbial contribution to all of these traits, as the estimated microbiabilities did not confidently deviate from zero. We systematically evaluated the contributions of host genetics and gut microbes to several growth and feed efficiency traits in Dahen broilers, and the results show that only the host genetics had significant effects on the phenotypic variations in a flock. The parameters obtained in this study, based on the combined use of genomic and gut microbiota data, may facilitate the implementation of efficient breeding schemes in Dahen broilers.
在本研究中，我们结合基因组和肠道微生物组数据，对407只大恒肉鸡的13个经济上重要的生长和饲料效率性状进行了评估，包括4周、6周、9周和10周龄时的体重（BW4、BW6、BW9和BW10），以及三个生长阶段的平均日增重（ADG6、ADG9和ADG10）、饲料转化率（FCR6、FCR9和FCR10）和剩余采食量（RFI6、RFI9和RFI10）。分别在9周和6周龄时观察到最高的平均日增重和最低的饲料转化率。我们通过对基因组进行测序获得了47,872个高质量的基因组单核苷酸多态性（SNP），并通过对16S rRNA基因进行测序获得了肠道微生物组的702个扩增子序列变体（ASV），二者均用于线性混合模型分析。体重性状的遗传力估计值（±标准误差，SE）范围为0.103±0.072至0.156±0.079，平均日增重为0.154±0.074至0.276±0.079，饲料转化率为0.311±0.076至0.454±0.076，剩余采食量性状为0.413±0.077至0.609±0.076。我们一致观察到体重性状与饲料转化率和剩余采食量性状之间存在中等程度和低程度的负遗传相关性（r = -0.562至-0.038），而饲料转化率和剩余采食量性状之间则存在强正相关性（r = 0.564至0.979）。对于饲料转化率和剩余采食量性状，三个生长阶段的测量值之间存在强正相关性。与基因组的贡献不同，我们没有检测到肠道微生物对所有这些性状的贡献，因为估计的微生物遗传力并未可靠地偏离零。我们系统地评估了宿主遗传学和肠道微生物对大恒肉鸡几种生长和饲料效率性状的贡献，结果表明，在一个鸡群中，只有宿主遗传学对表型变异有显著影响。本研究基于基因组和肠道微生物群数据的联合使用所获得的参数，可能有助于在大恒肉鸡中实施高效的育种方案。
