Growth resilience to weather variation in commercial free-ranging chickens in Ethiopia

Simple item page
cg.authorship.typesCGIAR and advanced research instituteen
cg.contributor.affiliationScotland’s Rural Collegeen
cg.contributor.affiliationInternational Livestock Research Instituteen
cg.contributor.affiliationUniversity of Edinburghen
cg.contributor.affiliationUniversity of Londonen
cg.contributor.affiliationUniversity of Nottinghamen
cg.contributor.donorGates Foundationen
cg.contributor.donorForeign, Commonwealth and Development Office, United Kingdomen
cg.contributor.donorBiotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, United Kingdomen
cg.coverage.countryEthiopia
cg.coverage.iso3166-alpha2ET
cg.coverage.regionAfrica
cg.coverage.regionEastern Africa
cg.creator.identifierMekonnen Girma Nedi: 0000-0002-8645-8359en
cg.creator.identifierWondmeneh Esatu Woldegiorgiss: 0000-0001-7279-8240en
cg.creator.identifierTadelle Dessie: 0000-0002-1630-0417en
cg.creator.identifierOlivier Hanotte: 0000-0002-2877-4767en
cg.howPublishedFormally Publisheden
cg.identifier.dataurlhttps://datashare.ed.ac.uk/handle/10283/8761en
cg.identifier.doihttps://doi.org/10.1186/s12864-025-11561-6en
cg.isijournalISI Journalen
cg.issn1471-2164en
cg.journalBMC Genomicsen
cg.reviewStatusPeer Reviewen
cg.subject.ilriCHICKENSen
cg.subject.ilriGENETICSen
cg.subject.ilriPOULTRYen
cg.subject.impactAreaNutrition, health and food security
cg.subject.sdgSDG 2 - Zero hungeren
cg.volume26en
dc.contributor.authorBanos, G.en
dc.contributor.authorGirma, Mekonnenen
dc.contributor.authorSolomon, Bersabheen
dc.contributor.authorDavoudi, P.en
dc.contributor.authorEsatu, Wondmenehen
dc.contributor.authorDessie, Tadelleen
dc.contributor.authorPsifidi, A.en
dc.contributor.authorWatson, K.en
dc.contributor.authorHanotte, Olivier H.en
dc.contributor.authorSánchez-Molano, E.en
dc.date.accessioned2025-04-15T16:46:38Zen
dc.date.available2025-04-15T16:46:38Zen
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10568/174205
dc.titleGrowth resilience to weather variation in commercial free-ranging chickens in Ethiopiaen
dcterms.abstractBackground: The poultry industry in sub-Saharan Africa is a rapidly developing sector mostly based on smallholder farming. Increased demand for poultry-derived products, driven by the growing economy and population, has intensified importations of highly productive exotic breeds and crossbreeding with local ecotypes. However, commercial chickens with exotic genes often struggle to adapt to the local climate under smallholder farmers management. Understanding the chicken response to weather changes is crucial for developing selection schemes that ensure proper adaptation. In the present study, we derived individual phenotypes for growth resilience of commercial free-ranging chickens to changing weather conditions in Ethiopia. In addition, we performed genomic association analyses to assess the genetic background of these phenotypes and identify potential candidate genes of interest. Results: Novel resilience phenotypes describing changes in chicken growth profiles in response to weather fluctuation were developed. Variations in daily air temperature, relative humidity and amount of precipitation had the strongest impact on growth. Significant genomic variance was detected for growth resilience to changes in air temperature measurements and a temperature-humidity index. Genomic markers correlated with these resilience traits were mostly located within or near candidate genes associated with lipid metabolism and adipocyte homeostasis. Some of these genes have been previously linked to animal responses to environmental stressors in other species. Conclusions: The phenotypes of growth resilience of chickens to changing weather conditions exhibited significant genomic variation. The outcomes of this study may facilitate the genomic selection of commercial chickens that are not only highly productive, but also capable of maintaining their production levels under varying weather conditions.en
dcterms.accessRightsOpen Access
dcterms.audienceAcademicsen
dcterms.audienceScientistsen
dcterms.available2025-04-14en
dcterms.bibliographicCitationBanos, G., Girma, M., Solomon, B., Davoudi, P., Esatu, W., Dessie, T., Psifidi, A., Watson, K., Hanotte, O. and Sánchez-Molano, E. 2025. Growth resilience to weather variation in commercial free-ranging chickens in Ethiopia. BMC Genomics 26: 371.en
dcterms.extent371en
dcterms.issued2025-04-14en
dcterms.languageen
dcterms.licenseCC-BY-4.0
dcterms.publisherBioMed Centralen
dcterms.subjectchickensen
dcterms.subjectgenomicsen
dcterms.subjectpoultryen
dcterms.typeJournal Article

Files

License bundle

Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
Thumbnail Image
Name:
license.txt
Size:
1.75 KB
Format:
Item-specific license agreed upon to submission
Description:
Download

Collections

ILRI articles in journals
ILRI Livestock Genetics, Nutrition and Feed Resources theme outputs (2025-)