Assessment of Feed Efficiency and Its Relationship with Egg Quality in Two Purebred Chicken Lines and Their Reciprocal Crosses

Jinmeng Zhao, Jingwei Yuan, Yuanmei Wang, Aixin Ni, Yanyan Sun, Yunlei Li, Hui Ma, Panlin Wang, Lei Shi, Pingzhuang Ge, Shixiong Bian, Yunhe Zong and Jilan Chen ()
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Jinmeng Zhao: Key Laboratory of Animal (Poultry) Genetics Breeding and Reproduction, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Institute of Animal Science, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100193, China
Jingwei Yuan: Key Laboratory of Animal (Poultry) Genetics Breeding and Reproduction, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Institute of Animal Science, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100193, China
Yuanmei Wang: Key Laboratory of Animal (Poultry) Genetics Breeding and Reproduction, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Institute of Animal Science, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100193, China
Aixin Ni: Key Laboratory of Animal (Poultry) Genetics Breeding and Reproduction, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Institute of Animal Science, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100193, China
Yanyan Sun: Key Laboratory of Animal (Poultry) Genetics Breeding and Reproduction, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Institute of Animal Science, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100193, China
Yunlei Li: Key Laboratory of Animal (Poultry) Genetics Breeding and Reproduction, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Institute of Animal Science, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100193, China
Hui Ma: Key Laboratory of Animal (Poultry) Genetics Breeding and Reproduction, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Institute of Animal Science, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100193, China
Panlin Wang: Key Laboratory of Animal (Poultry) Genetics Breeding and Reproduction, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Institute of Animal Science, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100193, China
Lei Shi: Key Laboratory of Animal (Poultry) Genetics Breeding and Reproduction, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Institute of Animal Science, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100193, China
Pingzhuang Ge: Key Laboratory of Animal (Poultry) Genetics Breeding and Reproduction, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Institute of Animal Science, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100193, China
Shixiong Bian: Key Laboratory of Animal (Poultry) Genetics Breeding and Reproduction, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Institute of Animal Science, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100193, China
Yunhe Zong: Key Laboratory of Animal (Poultry) Genetics Breeding and Reproduction, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Institute of Animal Science, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100193, China
Jilan Chen: Key Laboratory of Animal (Poultry) Genetics Breeding and Reproduction, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Institute of Animal Science, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100193, China

Agriculture, 2022, vol. 12, issue 12, 1-13

Abstract: Crossbreeding is normally applied to improve the economical traits of chickens. However, feed efficiency and its relationship with egg quality have rarely been explored in crossbreds. Herein, White Leghorn and Beijing You chickens were selected to generate purebreds (WW, YY) and reciprocal crossbreds (YW, WY), which were evaluated in terms of daily feed intake (DFI), feed conversion ratio (FCR), and residual feed intake (RFI) at 43 to 46 and 69 to 72 weeks of age, respectively. We found that WY was more efficient than YW in both laying periods. The correlation analysis showed that RFI was highly correlated with DFI (0.49 to 0.84) but unrelated to egg mass, and FCR was negatively correlated with egg mass (−0.77 to −0.43) in both purebreds and crossbreds. Moreover, RFI was not correlated with egg quality traits within each genetic group, except for the egg yolk ratio (0.27) in WW. FCR was negatively correlated with eggshell weight and thickness (−0.33 to −0.19) in WW and WY. Compared to FCR, selection for RFI could improve feed efficiency without significant changes in egg mass and quality in chickens. These findings provide new insights into the improvement of feed efficiency using rational parental lines in chicken crossbreeding.

Keywords: chicken; crossbred; feed efficiency; egg quality; laying periods (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q1 Q10 Q11 Q12 Q13 Q14 Q15 Q16 Q17 Q18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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