January 29, 2007

Hubbard and MetaMorphix join in predictive markers for broiler breeding

Poultry breeding company Hubbard and life science company MetaMorphixhave have allied to jointly develop a set of genomic markers to maximize the genetic process of Hubbard's products.

Broiler breeder Hubbard and MetaMorphix, a company specialised in the development of geneomic selection tools, will use Genius-Whole Genome System to develop predictive markers for desired broiler performance traits. Under the agreement, MetaMorphix will be entitled to receive a royalty on revenues generated from the new breeds.

The agreement would allow Hubbard to better understand the desirable traits in their pedigree lines. Hubbard geneticists would be able to quickly and accurately identify associations of predictive genetic markers with economically important traits, including health, welfare, meat quality, breeder and broiler traits said Stephane Duthoit, CEO of Hubbard.

The poultry industry will benefit from this technology and this would accelerate Hubbrd's ability to bring these improvements to the marketplace, Duthoit added.

Edwin Quattlebaum, CEO of MetaMorphix, said the agreement is a significant milestone for the company as it now has agreements with industry leaders for its genomic technology in all three major livestock species, including beef (Cargill), swine (Monsanto) and chicken (Hubbard).