February 1, 2013

The impact of avian influenza (AI) on Thailand's domestic chicken genetic resources establishes the main objective of a recent survey.

After the AI outbreak, most parental restocking of indigenous chickens in the Northeast and North were from local or home-grown areas, while restocking in the central region was from various external sources. The result found that approximately 45% of those interviewed decreased the number of chickens reared, 40% restocked chickens back to the original number, 15% increased the number of chickens reared, and a few stopped rearing altogether.

It was found that the AI outbreak had an impact on the genetic resources of Thai indigenous chickens. The percentage of the black-feathered strain, which is mainly found in the North and Northeast, is now in decline. The yellow-feathered strain, which is mainly found in the central region, has also noticeably decreased. On the other hand, mixed strains started to increase.

This study revealed that the AI outbreak had an impact on genetic diversity of Thai indigenous chickens of Thailand.