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ARS Home » Southeast Area » Athens, Georgia » U.S. National Poultry Research Center » Endemic Poultry Viral Diseases Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #344735
Research Project: Enhancing Genetic Resistance to Marek’s Disease in Poultry

Location: Endemic Poultry Viral Diseases Research

Title: Grandparental lineage in a reciprocal cross showed no detectable effect on survival days of F2 White Leghorns in response to a very virulent plus Marek’s disease virus challenge

Author
item BAI, HAO - University Of Maryland
item HE, YANGHUA - University Of Maryland
item DING, YI - University Of Maryland
item CHANG, SHUANG - Shandong Agricultural University
item Zhang, Huanmin
item CHEN, JILAN - Chinese Academy Of Agricultural Sciences
item SONG, JIUZHOU - University Of Maryland

Submitted to: Poultry Science
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 3/15/2019
Publication Date: 5/12/2019
Publication URL: https://handle.nal.usda.gov/10113/6837754
Citation: Bai, H., He, Y., Ding, Y., Chang, S., Zhang, H., Chen, J., Song, J. 2019. Grandparental lineage in a reciprocal cross showed no detectable effect on survival days of F2 White Leghorns in response to a very virulent plus Marek’s disease virus challenge. Poultry Science. 98.10: 4498-4503. https://doi.org/10.3382/ps/pez209.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3382/ps/pez209

Interpretive Summary: Marek’s Disease (MD) is a neoplastic disease of chickens, and remains as a chronic infectious disease that threatens the poultry industry. Improving genetic resistance of poultry to MD is an important long-term goal, which would eventually augment the current control measures (Vaccination and management) against MD. Two special populations of chickens, each with a unique genetic lineage, were sampled for Marek’s disease virus challenge trials under controlled conditions. The survival days of the birds were statistically analyzed for any difference between the two special populations, which could be attributable to the different genetic lineages. The data, however, showed there was no significant difference. This report documents the experimental evidence that grandparental genetic lineage contributes no significant impact on survival days for those birds that were produced under a certain mating scheme. This information might be of interest to breeders who concern about genetic resistance to MD in cross-breeding.

Technical Abstract: Marek’s Disease (MD) is a neoplastic disease of chickens, and remains as a chronic infectious disease that threatens the poultry industry. Improving genetic resistance to MD in poultry is an important long-term goal, which would significantly augment the current control measures against MD and eventually reduce the annual economic loss. In this study, survival patterns of F2 birds from two reciprocal crosses were compared to examine possible difference in survival between the reciprocal crosses in response to MD virus (MDV) challenge. A total of 246 and 224 F2 chicks derived from the reciprocal crosses of lines 63×72 and lines 72×63, respectively, were sampled for a MDV challenge trial and survival days were recorded from the MDV-inoculation date to the end of experiment. Statistical analyses, including PCA followed by a cox-regression model, showed there was no significant difference in survival days between the reciprocal crosses (P > 0.05). To the best of our knowledge, this is the first MD survival study on reciprocal crosses of two genetically diversified lines of chickens differing in MD resistance. This report documented the experimental evidence that the genetic lineage of grandparental (maternal or paternal) effect on survival days was minimal, if any.