March 7, 2007

Israeli scientist to push for featherless chickens in poultry industry

Featherless broilers may soon enter the market because of their various advantages over their covered counterparts, an Israeli professor heading a project for featherless chickens has predicted.

Professor Avigdor Cahaner of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in Rehovot, Israel said featherless chickens would not be genetically modified products but would come from a breed found in nature whose characteristics have been known for almost half a century.

By transferring these traits to fast growing broiler chickens, the offspring would still be normal chickens, without the feathers, Cahaner said.

The new breed may also grow faster and larger since it would not need the energy to grow feathers.

The project came about after five years of intensive selection work and commercial trials.

Cahaner said the bird can be kept in hot climates without suffering from heatstress and poor performance. The birds also shows less health and skin problems and require less feed to produce more and better quality meat.

Processors would also find it convenient since it eliminates the need to remove the feathers, he said.