Response to Divergent Selection for Early Growth of Chickens Fed a Diet Deficient in Selenium

Abstract

Three generations of divergent selection for 21-day growth response to a diet deficient in selenium (-Se) were bred using a meat-type chicken. The Athens-Canadian Randombred (AC) population of chickens served as the base population for this study. Mass selection was used to establish a -Se refractory line (SDR) and a -Se susceptible line (SDS). A genetic control line was maintained during the selection process to facilitate evaluation of the responses of the selected lines. The SDR males and females had an average of 17% increase in weight gain at 21 days of age when fed the -Se diet compared with the control line males and females fed the same diet for the three generations of selection. The SDS line had an average reduction in weight gain of 27% during the same period of selection. A difference of 25 g was observed between the mean body weights of SDR males and females and between the SDS males and females after one generation of selection. By the third generation of selection, the difference between SDR and SDS males had increased to 31 g, whereas the SDR and SDS females differed by 41 g. Early response to selection was asymmetrical because the response was greater in the SDS than in the SDR line. Response to selection, however, generally declined after the first generation. Realized heritability estimates for individual generations for this trait were variable (ranging from -.26 to .95), but cumulative estimates (.15 to .39) for growth through three generations were similar to those reported for chickens and quail.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Estimates of heritability for selenium and glutathione peroxidase levels in pigs

“…This latter investigation suggested that the site of hereditary involvement was connected to differences in the metabolism of sulphur-containing amino acids. A selection experiment in chickens (CUNNINGHAM et al 1987), selecting for "Se-deficient refractory" (SDR) and "Se-deficient susceptible" (SDS) lines, demonstrated successful though asymmetrical response. The estimates of realized heritabilities in the study ranged from 0.15 in SDR males to 0.39 for SDS females.…”

“…Cereals grown in Norway are extremely poor in Se ( F R~S L I E et al 1980), and it has therefore been the practice for many years to add Se supplements to commercial pig rations based on Norwegian grains. Therefore a genetic variation in plasma selenium and glutathione peroxidase activity has been suspected in pigs as in chickens U~RGENSEN and WEGGER 1979;BUNK and COMBS 1981;LAVORGNA and COMBS 1982;HALPIN and BAKER 1984;STOWE and MILLER 1985;CUNNINGHAM et al 1987). This may be indicative of differing individual requirements for Se.…”

“…Selective matings within hypo-and hyperselenemic pigs, respectivley, produced offspring of the same relative Se-status as their parents. Therefore a genetic variation in plasma selenium and glutathione peroxidase activity has been suspected in pigs as in chickens U~RGENSEN and WEGGER 1979;BUNK and COMBS 1981;LAVORGNA and COMBS 1982;HALPIN and BAKER 1984;STOWE and MILLER 1985;CUNNINGHAM et al 1987).…”

Glutathione peroxidase activity in different breeds and sexes of chickens during embryonic development up to peak of egg production

“…Chicken embryo tissues are characterized by high concentrations of polyunsaturated fatty acids (Noble and Cocchi, 1990) and for that reason they are sensitive to lipid peroxidation (Gaál et al, 1995); protection against lipid peroxidation is, therefore, a crucial task for embryos. A genetic variation in GSHPx activity has been suspected previously in chickens (Cunningham et al, 1987;Shen et al, 1992;Shaaban et al, 2003Shaaban et al, , 2004. Correlation between the activity of GSHPx and body weight was shown to be signifi cant, as well.…”

Direct and maternal genetic effects for preinflection point growth traits and humoral immunity in quail

“…According to the sigmoid pattern of growth in birds, early growth traits are considered as the growth performances before the inflection point (as the increasing phase of the growth) which are genetically different from body weights ( BW ) in later stages (growth traits after the inflection point as decreasing phase of the growth). Due to its economic importance, studying genetic bases of early growth are of interest in quail ( Mohammadi-Tighsiah et al, 2018 ), and chicken ( Cunningham et al, 1987 ; Carlborg et al, 2003 ). Therefore, some studies have been conducted to estimate the genetic and non-genetic parameters for early growth performances of the birds ( Khaldari et al, 2010 ; Mohammadi-Tighsiah et al, 2018 ).…”