Poultry Gen ANDY ANDREWS Lancaster Farming Staff MANHEIM (Lancaster Co.) It’ll take more than pushing a few buttons to achieve desired traits in poultry through genetic selection. According to an lowa State poultry expert, traits important to the poultry breeding industry are controlled by many different genes. Finding all of them and discovering how they interact will lay the groundwork for an improved bird, according to Susan J. Lament. Lament, professor of animal science at lowa State University in Ames, lowa, spoke to about three dozen poultry producers and agri-industry representatives Monday afternoon. She spoke at the Penn State-sponsored Poul try Management and Health Seminar at Kreider’s Restaurant. Finding those traits requires studying “dozens of genes,” said Lament. To bring the genes nec essary into commercial lines will SEEDWAY TRIPLE CROWN For Hard Hitting Corn Performance RX794RRS£ Asgrow Roundup® hybrid High grain yield potential Good seedling vigor Seedway / Asgrow hybrids possess the qualities needed to give you high silage and grain yields. Proven in our replicated trials, university trials and grower's fields throughout the region. Don't miss the opportunity to add more power to your corn lineup with Seedway! EARLY PAYMENT DISCOUNTS IN EFFECT NOW! MIFFLINBURG, PA 800 - 338 - 2137 YORK, PA 800 - 836 - 3720 MECHANICSBURG, PA.... 877- 788-8982 EMMAUS, PA 800-225-4131 etic Selection require more research caution. Selecting for those traits could be economically feasible, Lamont said, if they lower the cost of what you’re replacing. But se lecting for certain genes may re quire giving up other genes a complex tradeoff. Already, one company is mak ing use of technology to de termine the gender of eggs with 100 percent accuracy. Embrex, of Raleigh, N.C., utilized funding from the USD A small business innovative grant to sort eggs by gender. The technology is “sound,” Lamont noted, “and can be de veloped in the company.” Lamont quoted Catherine Ricks, vice president of Embrex research and development. “In laboratory trials,” according to Ricks, “we have determined the gender in a series of eggs with 100 percent accuracy.” The company noted it plans to 98 day "Leafy" gene hybrid #1 in Penn State University zone one silage trials for three consecutive years ('97/98/99) 114 day r 3 I i use the grant money to develop a “novel device used to sort avian eggs by gender,” Lamont noted. Lamont questioned that to look at what genetics can do for poultry lines and bird health, sce narios have to be examined. ‘What if transgenic poultry were widely accepted?” she said. “What if sexing embryos was a routine practice? And what if the use of antibiotics in poultry was banned?” and Those are issues the industry must face. Transgenic poultry could someday be a routine method of using hens as “bioreactors,” since eggs are a very efficient producer of proteins. But the industry must find a way to prove how important to human medicine the use of re combinant technology can be. Already, several companies are looking into the many ways genes can be manipulated to not only produce a better bird, but to fight poultry disease and even E39OL EEDWAY Must Address Public Perception Issues E7os^ 111 day Outstanding grain yield potential Good general stress tolerance Very good seedling vigor Poultry genetic research and public perception were highlights of a presentation by Susan J. Lamont, profes sor of animal science at lowa State University, center. From left, Paul Patterson, Penn State associate professor of poultry science; Lamont; and Bob Elkin, Penn State Poultry Science department head. improve human health. Compa nies include Avigenics, CIMA, OviGen, Ovo Biosciences, TranXenoGen, Vivalis, and oth ers. Some are looking into produc ing birds with specific disease-re sistant capabilities. Lament noted. However, the “holdups” in these developments include: • Regulatory (genetically modified organism) issues, prom inent in the public’s perception. Many technology-based compa nies didn’t talk about the benefits of genetically modified products before they were released. The products must be shown to be completely “risk-free,” said La ment, even though most prod ucts aren’t. • Technical development is sues need to be overcome. • Knowledge of genes and ge netic mechanisms in poultry needs to be fully understood. A benefit to sexing the em bryos to identify the gender of the egg at the embryonic level could have an impact. Already, three-quarters of a billion male layer chicks are killed annually. The sexing could cut these num bers dramatically. If sexing could be done, then could actual gender alteration be far behind? Lamont noted there were no “real success stories yet,” but the technology to either kill off an unapproved gender or change all the embryos to the de sired sex could be possible. “These things might not be that far off,” she said. Control of food pathogens using genetics to enhance vaccine efficiency, or creating bird genet ic resistance to disease, are at the forefront of research. Studies at lowa and other uni versities are looking into ways to identify Salmonella enteritidis (SE) and other disease resistance in birds. Lamont provided detail on how DNA markers, or “mi crosateliites,” are used and the processes that scientists incorpo rate in genetic selection. Some research to identify anti biotic response levels was under taken using leghorns, Spanish birds, and Fayoumis in the labo ratory. Whatever the scientists come up with, the industry must be cautious to observe how sire traits can effect the outcome of genetic selection. Importantly, the industry must move cautiously. They must bring the advances through “with information about why they’re valuable,” said Lamont. Public perception is critical. And sometimes the public “won’t accept it very graciously,” La mont said.
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