Small Scale Egg Production: The Challenge of Portuguese Autochthonous Chicken Breeds

Nuno V. Brito, Júlio Cesar Lopes, Virgínia Ribeiro, Rui Dantas and José V. Leite
Additional contact information
Nuno V. Brito: NUTRIR/CISAS—Technological Center for AgriFood Sustainability/Center for Research and Development in Agrifood Systems and Sustainability, Polytechnic Institute of Viana do Castelo, Monte de Prado, 4960-320 Melgaço, Portugal
Júlio Cesar Lopes: NUTRIR/CISAS—Technological Center for AgriFood Sustainability/Center for Research and Development in Agrifood Systems and Sustainability, Polytechnic Institute of Viana do Castelo, Monte de Prado, 4960-320 Melgaço, Portugal
Virgínia Ribeiro: AMIBA—Associação dos Criadores de Bovinos de Raça Barrosã, 4730-260 Vila Verde, Portugal
Rui Dantas: AMIBA—Associação dos Criadores de Bovinos de Raça Barrosã, 4730-260 Vila Verde, Portugal
José V. Leite: AMIBA—Associação dos Criadores de Bovinos de Raça Barrosã, 4730-260 Vila Verde, Portugal

Agriculture, 2021, vol. 11, issue 9, 1-13

Abstract: Biodiversity concerns and the sustainability of agroecological systems, together with consumer demand for higher quality products from alternative and extensive farming methods, have reinforced interest in local breeds that are well adapted to low-input environments. The first reference to Portuguese poultry breeds appeared in the 1930s, with registration and breeding programs of native breeds only being implemented in the last ten years. Portuguese chicken breeds (Pedrês Portuguesa, Preta Lusitânica, Amarela, and Branca) are almost extinct and are currently bred on small-scale farms for egg and meat production. This study aimed to characterize the performance of laying hens, evaluating the influence of genotype, age, and season on egg production over four years in farm conditions. The results highlight the Pedrês Portuguesa as the most productive breed regarding egg production and reveal a tendency for an increase in egg production performance by the Branca in contrast with the lower productive capacity of the Preta Lusitânica. Older hens start laying earlier in consecutive laying periods, present a shorter peak, and an inferior number of total eggs/cycle. There is a need to establish breeding goals and to evaluate and revise breeding programs to increase productivity in autochthonous Portuguese chicken breeds.

Keywords: poultry; local resources; laying hens; productive performance; small-scale; selection program (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: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0472/11/9/818/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0472/11/9/818/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jagris:v:11:y:2021:i:9:p:818-:d:624242

Access Statistics for this article

Agriculture is currently edited by Ms. Leda Xuan

More articles in Agriculture from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().