Morphological and genetic characterization of 13 Italian local chicken breeds

Abstract

Submitted 2020-07-02 | Accepted 2020-09-03 | Available 2020-12-01

https://doi.org/10.15414/afz.2020.23.mi-fpap.137-143

According to census accomplished in 2001, only 9% of Italian poultry breeds are still widespread. This project aims to describe morphological variability and genetic background among 13 Italian autochthonous chicken breeds, 10 from Northern Italy and 3 from Central Italy. An updated biometrical measurement protocol was established starting from phenotypic characterization guidelines released by FAO. Six traits were registered on each animal: live body weight (LBW), body length (BL), shank length (SL), shank width (SW), breast width (BW), and wingspan (WS). Moreover, all breeds were genotyped using the Affymetrix 600 K Chicken SNP Array, in order to evaluate genetic variability and population structure. Means of BL and BW showed low variability among breeds, with the lowest value in Pepoi (BL = 32.29 ± 1.57 cm and BW = 28.92 ± 1.93 cm), and maximum in Robusta Lionata for BL (46.79 ± 1.66 cm) and in Robusta Maculata for BW (42.33 ± 3.60 cm). On the contrary, average LBW varied notably among breeds, with the highest value for Robusta Maculata (♂ 4,221.7 ± 450.6 g; ♀ 2,831.7 ± 253.2 g) and the lowest values for Modenese males (1,695.0 ± 128.1 g) and Pepoi females (1,293.3 ± 219.2 g). The lowest observed heterozygosity (Ho) and expected heterozygosity (He) were obtained for Padovana Argentata (Ho: 0.151 ± 0.198; He: 0.146 ± 0.185) and the highest for Millefiori di Lonigo (Ho: 0.293 ± 0.199; He: 0.291 ± 0.178). Furthermore, multidimensional scaling plot showed clear genetic identity for each breed, with clusters formed according to geographical and historical origin of the breeds, which were confirmed in neighbor networks. In conclusion, local breeds have conserved authentic genetic patterns and these results can help improve conservation strategies.

Keywords: safeguard, SNP, genomic, morphological trait, poultry, Italy

References

Bianchi, M. et al. (2011). A microsatellites-based survey on the genetic structure of two Italian local chicken breeds. Italian Journal of Animal Science, 10(3), e39. https://doi.org/10.4081/ijas.2011.e39

Bortoluzzi, C. et al. (2018). The effects of recent changes in breeding preferences on maintaining traditional Dutch chicken genomic diversity. Heredity, 121, 564–578. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41437-018-0072-3

Cassandro, M. et al. (2015). Carcass characteristics and meat quality traits of the Padovana chicken breed, a commercial line, and their cross. Italian Journal of Animal Science, 14, 304–309. https://doi.org/10.4081/ijas.2015.3848

Cerolini, S. et al. (2010). Breeding performance in the Italian chicken breed Mericanel della Brianza. Italian Journal of Animal Science, 9(4), e72. https://doi.org/10.4081/ijas.2010.e72

Chang, C. et al. (2015). Second-generation PLINK: rising to the challenge of larger and richer datasets. Gigascience, 4(1), s13742-015. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13742-015-0047-8

De Marchi, M. et al. (2003). Genetic traceability of chicken breeds. Agriculturae Conspectus Scientificus, 68(4), 255-259.

De Marchi, M. et al. (2005a). Assessing genetic variability in two ancient chicken breeds of Padova area. Italian Journal of Animal Science, 4(Suppl. 3), 151-153. https://doi.org/10.4081/ijas.2005.3s.151

De Marchi, M. et al. (2005b). Conservation of poultry genetic resource in the Veneto region of Italy. Animal Genetics, 37, 63-74. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1014233900001978

FAO. (2012). Phenotypic characterization of animal genetic resources. FAO Animal Production and Health Guidelines No. 11. Rome.

FAO. (2018). The future of food and agriculture – Alternative pathways to 2050. Rome. pp. 224.

FAO DAD-IS. Available online: http://www.fao.org/dad-is/browse-by-country-and-species/en/ (accessed on 20 August 2020).

Franzoni, A. et al. (2018). Phenotypic characterisation of Italian local chicken populations. In 6th Mediterranean Poultry Summit, 74, p. 37.

Fulton, J. E. (2006). Avian genetic stock preservation: an industry perspective. Poultry Science, 85(2), 227-231. https://doi.org/10.1093/ps/85.2.227

Huson, D. H. and Bryant, D. (2006). Application of phylogenetic networks in evolutionary studies. Molecular Biology and Evolution, 23(2), 254-267. https://doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msj030

Malomane, D. K. et al. (2019). The SYNBREED chicken diversity panel: a global resource to assess chicken diversity at high genomic resolution. BMC Genomics, 20, 345. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12864-019-5727-9

Mazzon, I. (1932). Pollicoltura Padovana, Padova, 11, 10-26.

Mugnai, C. et al. (2009). Effect of rearing system and season on the performance and egg characteristics of Ancona laying hens. Italian Journal of Animal Science, 8(2), 175-188. https://doi.org/10.4081/ijas.2009.175

Muir, W. M. et al. (2008). Genome-wide assessment of worldwide chicken SNP genetic diversity indicates significant absence of rare alleles in commercial breeds. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 105(45), 17312-17317. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0806569105

Paradis, E. et al. (2004). APE: analyses of phylogenetics and evolution in R language. Bioinformatics, 20, 289–290. https://doi.org/10.1093/bioinformatics/btg412

R Development Core Team. (2017). R: A language and environment for statistical computing. R Foundation for Statistical Computing, Vienna, Austria. URL https://www.R-project.org/.

Sabbioni, A. et al. (2006). Carcass yield and meat quality parameters of two Italian autochthonous chicken breeds reared outdoor: Modenese and Romagnolo. Proc. XII European Poultry Conference, Verona, Italy, 10-14 September, paper no. 10565.

Spalona, A. et al. (2007). Population size in conservation of local chicken breeds in chosen European countries. Archiv fur Geflugelkunde, 71(2), 49-55.

Strillacci, M. G. et al. (2017). Genomic and genetic variability of six chicken populations using single nucleotide polymorphism and copy number variants as markers. Animal, 11(5), 737-745. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1751731116002135

Warren, W. C. et al. (2017). A new chicken genome assembly provides insight into avian genome structure. G3: Genes, Genomes, Genetics, 7(1), 109-117. https://doi.org/10.1534/g3.116.035923

Zanetti, E. et al. (2010). Genetic characterization of local Italian breeds of chickens undergoing in situ conservation. Poultry Science, 89(3), 420-427. https://doi.org/10.3382/ps.2009-00324

Zanon, A. et al. (2006). Physico-chemical characteristics of eggs from two Italian autochthonous chicken breeds: Modenese and Romagnolo. World's Poultry Science Journal, 62, 203.