The effects of genetic selection for survivability and productivity on chicken physiological homeostasis.

Genetic selection is an important breeding tool that can be used for improving the animal's coping capability to modern production environments or for increasing economic benefits. However, over the past five decades, commercial breeding programmes have primarily concentrated on traits directly related to productivity. As a result those breeding programmes ignore traits that may impact animal welfare. To address this issue, a selection programme termed “group selection” was developed. This method takes into account competitive interactions by emphasizing performance of the group, rather than the individual. Results from the current studies have showed that chickens' productivity and well-being can be improved at the same time. We further demonstrated an association between the selected line's survivability and productivity and its respective physiological characteristics. These findings indicate that group selection altered the chickens' physiological homeostasis which is reflected in the line's unique coping ability with intensified domestic environments. These changes in physiological homeostasis provide an opportunity to gain new insights for the development of interventions aimed at ameliorating the adverse impacts of the intensified poultry industry.