BFREPA to help fund research into Osteoporosis
The British Free Range Egg Producers Association (BFREPA) has agreed to partly fund proposed research into osteoporosis in laying hens.
The research would be carried out at the Roslin Institute and Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies in Scotland and would build upon work done over the past 12 years. Scientists are looking into the genetics linked to osteoporosis. The Scottish team has applied for funding from the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC). It says that funding from an industry association like BFREPA adds weight to its research council application.
"It is not just the funding that BFREPA is providing that is important, but also the fact that the industry is interested in the proposed research," said research scientist Ian Dunn, group leader at the Roslin Institute. "If an association like BFREPA is willing to put money towards the research it is a strong indication of support in the industry. That is important when we are looking for research funds to go ahead with the work."
BFREPA has agreed to donate funding towards the research, and the Roslin Institute is currently awaiting a decision from the BBSRC on whether it will provide funding for the project. A previous submission had been approved by Defra only for the funding to be subsequently withdrawn when budgets became tight. "Defra seems to have limited research funding at the moment. There doesn’t seem to be much political will to support research at Defra just now. It seems to take the view that if the industry is interested in the research then the industry should pay for it," said Ian Dunn. "There is research funding around but it is very competitive and we are up against things like stem cell therapy."
Bone fractures and other forms of skeletal damage are a welfare problem in laying hens and osteoporosis is a major contributory factor. It results in a progressive loss of structural bone over the egg laying period, rendering the bones more fragile and consequently more susceptible to fracture. A long-running programme of work at Roslin on laying hen osteoporosis has established the causes of the problem and researchers have studied factors influencing its occurrence. They say that exercise enjoyed by birds in enhanced cages or non-cage systems can delay the onset of osteoporosis but fracture rates still remain high because of the more damaging impacts birds can have with perches and other environmental components. Good nutrition has a small effect in lessening the severity of osteoporosis but cannot prevent it. They say that genetics has the largest influence on osteoporosis. Genetics would form the basis of the new research at Roslin if it was approved by the BBSRC.
"We are looking for a genetic market for bone quality – something that could be used by the industry to improve bone strength. It would not be a panacea but it would push things in the right direction. The good thing about genetics is that once you have it, it is always there. But it is not something you can just buy off the shelf. It takes time. It needs a long term approach," said Ian.
As part of their initial work on osteoporosis, the researchers at Roslin spent nine years on a breeding programme based on divergent selection. Using a bone index comprising key bone indicators has resulted after nine generations in a line of hens with more than 50 per cent greater bone strength. This improvement is in addition to nutritional and environmental influenced improvements, say the researchers - so a genetic approach should decrease fracture incidences in all husbandry systems. The experimental selection was based on retrospective selection of progeny after post mortem analysis of dams at end of lay. It is time-consuming and not appropriate for large-scale commercial selection. Most importantly, dead chickens cannot reproduce. "What we need is a way of measuring bone density without killing birds," said Ian.
He said that they had been attempting through their work to identify genes that affected a bird’s susceptibility to osteoporosis. "Clearly it is not one gene. We have discovered the location on a chromosome that explained a lot. Now we need to go back to those populations to see if we can get a genetic marker."
Ian said the argument that bone problems were an inevitable consequence of hens laying eggs over a long period of time was a popular misconception. There was no strong genetic reason for that having to be the case, he said. The development of a genetic marker would provide the industry with an effective means of selection for better bone quality. The ultimate aim of the project would be to provide markers that can be used in marker assisted selection strategies for breeding laying hens and other types of poultry that have improved resistance to skeletal damage. The study would also identify candidate genes or regions controlling the genes and take the first steps towards understanding how these genes influenced variation in bone strength.
Ian said that if the programme was give the go-ahead, it could take seven or eight years to reach a position where improvements were available to egg producers. Researchers may be in a position to start a breeding programme in two years. "That programme would than take about five years," he said. "If we can get the support the work can be valuable."
He said genetic research was inevitably a long term investment but one that was worthwhile. "We would not be in the position we are now in terms of efficient production if it was not for genetics."
