Effects of Genotype × Environment Interaction on Welfare, Sustainability, and Quality of Poultry Production
A special issue of Animals (ISSN 2076-2615). This special issue belongs to the section "Poultry".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 March 2024) | Viewed by 4763
Special Issue Editor
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Poultry production has a lower environmental impact than other animal productive chains due to the high efficiency in converting feed into eggs and meat, thanks to the strong genetic selection carried out for increasing productive performance. This is evident in meat-type birds that reach slaughter weight earlier than ever before with a high percentage of breast and meat yield. This growth rate is retained close to the growth limit of the species; in fact, these high-performance strains (HPS) show welfare and health problems, skeletal imbalances, metabolic disorders, and muscle abnormalities, which affect meat appearance, nutritional traits, and consumers’ acceptance. Another side effect of this process is the reduction of genetic variability and the vulnerability to environmental stresses. Alternative poultry production is more expensive than intensive production but sustains biodiversity, local economies, and farm multifunctionality, in addition to providing eggs and meat to which consumers attribute high ethical value, quality, and taste. Alternative systems require birds adapted to a poor environment (high foraging aptitude, immune response, and thermos tolerance). The response of chickens to alternative systems and to different climatic conditions has not been sufficiently investigated, and only few commercial breeds are available for this rearing system. Nevertheless, HPS, unlike local breeds (LB), are highly unsuited to this purpose. However, many LB are in danger of extinction due to low productivity.
Thus, we invite original research papers that address the possibility of improving LB in terms of the balance between benefits (good health and welfare, resistance and resilience to heath stress, lower dietary needs, less veterinary protection) and unfavorable aspects (low performance). Areas of interest include conservation and development of genetic variability of poultry biodiversity, alternative system production, housing conditions, welfare/wellbeing, and product quality.
Prof. Dr. Cecilia Mugnai
Guest Editor
Manuscript Submission Information
Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.
Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Animals is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.
Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.
Keywords
- poultry biodiversity
- alternative housing systems
- welfare
- sustainability
- product quality
