Chicken genomics: Feather-pecking and victim pigmentation

Sammanfattning

Feather-pecking in domestic birds is associated with cannibalism and severe welfare problems1. It is a dramatic example of a spiteful behaviour in which the victim's fitness is reduced for no immediate direct benefit to the perpetrator2 and its evolution is unexplained. Here we show that the plumage pigmentation of a chicken may predispose it to become a victim: birds suffer more drastic feather-pecking when the colour of their plumage is due to the expression of a wild recessive allele at PMEL17, a gene that controls plumage melanization3, and when these birds are relatively common in a flock. These findings, obtained using an intercross between a domestic fowl and its wild ancestor, have implications for the welfare of domestic species and offer insight into the genetic changes associated with the evolution of feather-pecking during the early stages of domestication

Publicerad i

Nature
2004, volym: 431, nummer: 7009, sidor: 645-646
Utgivare: Nature Publishing Group

SLU författare

• Keeling, Linda

  • Institutionen för tillämpad husdjursvetenskap och välfärd, Sveriges lantbruksuniversitet
    

• Andersson, Leif

  • Institutionen för husdjurens biovetenskaper, Sveriges lantbruksuniversitet
    
  • Uppsala universitet

• Schütz, Karin E

  • Institutionen för tillämpad husdjursvetenskap och välfärd, Sveriges lantbruksuniversitet
    
  • AgResearch

• Fredriksson, Robert

  • Institutionen för husdjurens biovetenskaper, Sveriges lantbruksuniversitet
    

• Carlborg, Örjan

  • Institutionen för husdjurens biovetenskaper, Sveriges lantbruksuniversitet
    
  • The Roslin Institute

• Jensen, Per

  • Linköpings universitet

UKÄ forskningsämne

Annan veterinärmedicin
Husdjursvetenskap
Veterinärmedicin

Publikationens identifierare

• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/431645a

Permanent länk till denna sida (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/57908