Chicken genomics: Feather-pecking and victim pigmentation

Abstract

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

Published in

Nature
2004, volume: 431, number: 7009, pages: 645-646
Publisher: Nature Publishing Group

SLU Authors

• Keeling, Linda

  • Department of Applied Animal Science and Welfare, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

• Andersson, Leif

  • Department of Animal Biosciences, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    
  • Uppsala University

• Schütz, Karin E

  • Department of Applied Animal Science and Welfare, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    
  • AgResearch

• Fredriksson, Robert

  • Department of Animal Biosciences, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

• Carlborg, Örjan

  • Department of Animal Biosciences, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    
  • The Roslin Institute

• Jensen, Per

  • Linköping University

UKÄ Subject classification

Other Veterinary Science
Animal and Dairy Science
Veterinary Science

Publication identifier

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

Permanent link to this page (URI)

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