Thirst-bred chickens are meant to counter global warming
Tom KirkmanIndependent Project Manager
Water efficient chickens are being bred to counter the effects of global warming.
By breeding chickens to be less thirsty.
Really.
========================
“In the first scientific report of its kind, researchers in Arkansas have shown that chickens bred for water conservation continued to put on weight despite heat stress that would normally slow growth.
Research by the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station indicates the specially-bred line of chickens developed by Sara Orlowski could save growers thousands of gallons of water and thousands of pounds of food each month without sacrificing poultry health.
… As global population increases and usable water diminishes due to climate change patterns, scientists with the Division of Agriculture are looking for ways to raise the world’s most popular meat protein using fewer resources.
The study showed that a broiler chicken’s physiology could be significantly improved to convert food and water to body weight even with three weeks of heat stress.
Results from the study were published in “Physiological Reports”.
The article is titled “Effect of heat stress on the hypothalamic expression profile of water homeostasis-associated genes in low- and high-water efficient chicken lines.”
… Now in its fifth generation of selection, the high water-efficient line has been measured to consume significantly less water than standard broiler lines in use today.
From the time they were hatched to one month old, the high water-efficient line drank 1.3 pounds less water, and about 5.7 ounces less feed, which calculates to a 32-point improvement in water conversion and six-point improvement in feed conversion when compared to a random-bred control line.
While it may not seem like a huge difference, modern chicken houses hold on average 20,000 to as many as 50,000 birds.
Although chickens consume more as they grow, the difference for that month of growing equates to 7,800 fewer gallons of water and 17,800 pounds less feed to grow 50,000 water-efficient chickens.
● … The hypothalamus is the part of the brain that controls thirst.
● One of the study’s findings was that the hypothalamus of water-efficient chickens differed from the other chickens when exposed to heat stress.
The investigation revealed potential molecular signatures for water efficiency and heat tolerance in chickens.
The researchers devised a study that induced heat stress for groups of chickens by increasing the ambient temperature to mimic a summer season in Arkansas.
… “What the most interesting thing from that study, when it comes to live performance, is that the heat-stressed birds from the high water-efficient line consumed less water than the non-heat stressed birds from the low water-efficient line,” Orlowski said.
Water is critical to raising chickens.
They can go several days without food, but only a few hours without water at high temperatures, Dridi said.