November 21, 2007

Canadian broiler chicken strain preserved for 50 years

University of Alberta announced it successfully preserved a genetic strain of a broiler chicken 50 years ago to ensure it survived despite the evolution of its "monster cousins."

Doug Korver, professor of poultry nutrition, said that it was first suggested by Agriculture Canada since genetic progress was happening quickly and a random-bred standard should be maintained to preserve genetics.

Birds of the preserved strain in 1957 are five times smaller than today's commercially grown chickens. Chickens available today have gone through extensive gene selection to boost their size and meat yield.

However, researchers believe in the importance of saving genes from the 1957 chickens for food security, in case of illness that could threaten the lines developed over the past 50 years.

Martin Zuidhof, a poultry research scientist said that if there's a need to fall back on some traits that have been lost in the commercial genetic selection process, then the resource is still available.