What is coming to <shudder> and cows, and corn, and beans, and...

[Guest guest]

Nothing surprising to us, but confirmed? The answer, apparently, is that

there is none...

Question: Isn't selecting for the good parts what got us into this mess?!

Read away:

Commercial Production of Chickens Takes Toll on Genetic Diversity

By HENRY FOUNTAIN

To the connoisseur of fine food, chicken may seem depressingly monotonous no

matter how it's prepared. But scientists worry about a more basic degree of

sameness - a lack of genetic diversity in the birds that are raised for meat

and eggs.

An analysis of commercial chicken populations around the world by M.

Muir of Purdue University and colleagues has revealed the extent of the

problem. Fifty percent or more of the diversity of ancestral breeds has been

lost, they report in The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

That could make chicken production more susceptible to disease outbreaks for

which resistant genes have disappeared.

Sampling about 2,500 birds, the researchers looked at several thousand

instances of genetic variation and used that to estimate what a hypothetical

ancestral population looked like genetically. " Then we were able to say what

is missing " in commercial birds, Dr. Muir said.

Their findings indicate that most of the diversity was lost with the advent

of wide-scale commercial production in the 1950s. Only a handful of hundreds

of breeds have been crossed to produce broilers and layers.

Dr. Muir said restoring some diversity was not simple a matter of crossing

with more breeds - producers would lose the improvements they have made in

existing lines. Instead, one approach would be to use genetic markers to aid

in cross-breeding, " to select for the parts that are good, " he said.

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[Guest guest]

OBTW, Henry Fountain is a writer for the New York Times...

Standard disclaimers apply: no relation/connection, & ct...

Just for full disclosure and no political ties you see.

Alan

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Commercial Production of Chickens Takes Toll on Genetic Diversity

By HENRY FOUNTAIN

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