Revealing Pathways Associated with Feed Efficiency and Meat Quality Traits in Slow-Growing Chickens

Abstract

Here, molecular pathways and genes involved in the feed efficiency (FE) and thigh-meat quality of slow-growing Korat chickens were investigated. Individual feed intake values and body weights were collected weekly to the calculate feed conversion ratios (FCR) and residual feed intake. The biochemical composition and meat quality parameters were also measured. On the basis of extreme FCR values at 10 weeks of age, 9 and 12 birds from the high and the low FCR groups, respectively, were selected, and their transcriptomes were investigated using the 8 × 60 K Agilent chicken microarray. A weighted gene co-expression network analysis was performed to determine the correlations between co-expressed gene modules and FE, thigh-meat quality, or both. Groups of birds with different FE values also had different nucleotide, lipid, and protein contents in their thigh muscles. In total, 38 modules of co-expressed genes were identified, and 12 were correlated with FE and some meat quality traits. A functional analysis highlighted several enriched functions, such as biological processes, metabolic processes, nucleotide metabolism, and immune responses. Several molecular factors were involved in the interactions between FE and meat quality, including the assembly competence domain, baculoviral IAP repeat containing 5, cytochrome c oxidase assembly factor 3, and myosin light chain 9 genes.

Genome-Wide Association Study of Feed Efficiency Related Traits in Ducks

“…However, the FE trait is a complex phenotype that can be difficult to assess as compared with other traits [ 33 ]. Some signaling pathways have been related to FE, but very few candidate genes have been identified [ 34 , 35 , 36 ]. One possible explanation for this lack of knowledge is that FE is a complicated economic trait that may be controlled by many different genes.…”

Thigh muscle metabolic response is linked to feed efficiency and meat characteristics in slow-growing chicken

“…These groups are later referred to as the low-FE and high-FE groups, respectively. The studied birds were the same as in our previous gene expression study of the KR thigh muscle ( Poompramun et al, 2021a ).…”

“…Previous skeletal muscle transcriptomic analysis in chicken has indicated that FE may be related to nucleotide sugar biosynthesis, glycogen metabolism, and lipid uptake and transport ( Abasht et al, 2019 ). Our previous transcriptomic analysis with KR chicken indicated that nucleotide metabolism, fatty acid metabolic process, and oxidative stress play key roles in regulating both FE and the quality of thigh meat ( Poompramun et al, 2021a ). Thus, improving FE can have a negative impact on meat texture and the nutritional value of meat via activating the accumulation of biochemical compounds and flavor precursors.…”

“…Thus, improving FE can have a negative impact on meat texture and the nutritional value of meat via activating the accumulation of biochemical compounds and flavor precursors. Although the molecular mechanisms have been extensively investigated at the transcriptome level ( Poompramun et al, 2021a ), understanding is lacking on how the FE and thigh muscle meat quality of this slow-growing chicken breed are linked at the proteomics level. Overall, a better understanding of how FE affects meat characteristics is crucial to avoiding any unfavorable effects of improving FE on the quality and characteristics of KR thigh meat.…”

Metagenomic insights into the relationship between gut microbiota and residual feed intake of small-sized meat ducks

“…However, animals with similar body weights (BWs) always required rather widely different amounts of feedstuff for similar body weight gain (BWG) (Yi et al, 2018 ). Moreover, the accurate calculation of the nutritional requirement of growing animals was far beyond the directed ratio calculation between the feed intake (FI) and BWG (Kelly et al, 2019 ; Poompramun et al, 2021a ). Therefore, the residual feed intake (RFI), which indicates the discrepancy between the actual and the predicted FI based on the body size and growth rate of animals, was applied to improve the animal FE (Bezerra et al, 2013 ).…”