Banos Georgios, Girma Mekonnen, Solomon Bersabhe, Davoudi Pourya, Esatu Wondmeneh, Dessie Tadelle, Psifidi Androniki, Watson Kellie, Hanotte Olivier, Sánchez-Molano Enrique
Centre for Tropical Livestock Genetics and Health (CTLGH), Scotland's Rural College, Animal and Veterinary Sciences, Easter Bush, Midlothian, EH25 9RG, UK.
Centre for Tropical Livestock Genetics and Health (CTLGH), ILRI, P.O. Box 5689, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
BMC Genomics. 2025 Apr 14;26(1):371. doi: 10.1186/s12864-025-11561-6.
The poultry industry in sub-Saharan Africa is a rapidly developing sector mostly based on smallholder farming. Increased demand for poultry-derived products, driven by the growing economy and population, has intensified importations of highly productive exotic breeds and crossbreeding with local ecotypes. However, commercial chickens with exotic genes often struggle to adapt to the local climate under smallholder farmers management. Understanding the chicken response to weather changes is crucial for developing selection schemes that ensure proper adaptation. In the present study, we derived individual phenotypes for growth resilience of commercial free-ranging chickens to changing weather conditions in Ethiopia. In addition, we performed genomic association analyses to assess the genetic background of these phenotypes and identify potential candidate genes of interest.
Novel resilience phenotypes describing changes in chicken growth profiles in response to weather fluctuation were developed. Variations in daily air temperature, relative humidity and amount of precipitation had the strongest impact on growth. Significant genomic variance was detected for growth resilience to changes in air temperature measurements and a temperature-humidity index. Genomic markers correlated with these resilience traits were mostly located within or near candidate genes associated with lipid metabolism and adipocyte homeostasis. Some of these genes have been previously linked to animal responses to environmental stressors in other species.
The phenotypes of growth resilience of chickens to changing weather conditions exhibited significant genomic variation. The outcomes of this study may facilitate the genomic selection of commercial chickens that are not only highly productive, but also capable of maintaining their production levels under varying weather conditions.
撒哈拉以南非洲的家禽业是一个快速发展的部门，主要以小农养殖为基础。经济增长和人口增加推动了对家禽产品需求的增长，这加剧了高产外来品种的进口以及与当地生态型的杂交。然而，具有外来基因的商业鸡在小农管理下往往难以适应当地气候。了解鸡对气候变化的反应对于制定确保适当适应的选择方案至关重要。在本研究中，我们得出了埃塞俄比亚商业散养鸡对不断变化的天气条件的生长恢复力的个体表型。此外，我们进行了基因组关联分析，以评估这些表型的遗传背景并确定潜在的感兴趣候选基因。
开发了描述鸡生长曲线响应天气波动变化的新型恢复力表型。每日气温、相对湿度和降水量的变化对生长影响最大。检测到对气温测量变化和温度 - 湿度指数的生长恢复力存在显著的基因组变异。与这些恢复力性状相关的基因组标记大多位于与脂质代谢和脂肪细胞稳态相关的候选基因内部或附近。其中一些基因先前已与其他物种中动物对环境应激源的反应相关联。
鸡对不断变化的天气条件的生长恢复力表型表现出显著的基因组变异。本研究结果可能有助于对商业鸡进行基因组选择，这些鸡不仅高产，而且能够在不同天气条件下维持其生产水平。
