International Journal of Molecular Veterinary Research, 2025, Vol.15, No.1, 13-21 http://animalscipublisher.com/index.php/ijmvr 13 Research Insight Open Access Genomic Selection for Disease Resistance in Chickens and Its Application in Poultry Breeding JingHe1, Xiaofang Lin2 1 Animal Science Research Center, Cuixi Academy of Biotechnology, Zhuji, 311800, Zhejiang, China 2 Tropical Animal Medicine Research Center, Hainan Institute of Tropical Agricultural Resources, Sanya, 572025, Hainan, China Corresponding author: xiaofang.lin@hitar.org International Journal of Molecular Veterinary Research, 2025, Vol.15, No.1 doi: 10.5376/ijmvr.2025.15.0002 Received: 10 Dec., 2024 Accepted: 16 Jan., 2025 Published: 25 Jan., 2025 Copyright © 2025 He and Lin, This is an open access article published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Preferred citation for this article: He J., and Lin X.F., 2025, Genomic selection for disease resistance in chickens and its application in poultry breeding, International Journal of Molecular Veterinary Research, 15(1): 13-21 (doi: 10.5376/ijmvr.2025.15.0002) Abstract Poultry diseases continue to pose a serious threat to the livestock industry. Traditional disease-resistant breeding methods are limited by selection efficiency and genetic gain. This study expounds the principle, technical approach and practical application of genomic selection (GS) in chicken disease resistance breeding, and explores its advantages in enhancing disease resistance, shortening the breeding cycle, and improving the efficiency of multi-trait improvement. Studies have shown that, GS can integrate whole-genome markers and phenotypic data to predict genomic breeding values (GEBV) of complex disease resistance traits, and has been successfully applied to the improvement of disease resistance in Newcastle disease, avian leukemia and other diseases. By combining case analysis and multi-variety research, the complementarity between GS and traditional selection methods was discovered, indicating its potential in enhancing genetic diversity protection and reducing the use of antibiotics. However, in the implementation of GS, it still faces challenges, such as high cost of phenotypic data and errors, in genotype inference. This study provides a precise, efficient and sustainable development path for disease-resistant chicken breeding, which has certain practical guiding significance. Keywords Chicken; Disease resistance; Genomic selection; Genetic basis; Breeding strategy 1 Introduction Poultry production is a vital component of world animal agriculture, contributing substantially to good quality protein supply and food and economic security and prosperity. The most widely produced poultry species are chicken (Gallus gallus domesticus), and their performance is largely decided by genetic, environment, and management factors. Among these, disease resistance is a significant factor in influencing flock health, survivability, and overall production efficiency. Building disease resistance in chickens is therefore crucial to enhance production stability and economic returns, reduce antibiotics and veterinary reliance (Weng et al., 2020). Certain infectious diseases perennially afflict poultry production. Specifically, Newcastle disease, infectious bronchitis, and Marek's disease cause high morbidity and mortality rates, impaired growth performance, and reduced egg production. Outbreaks of these diseases not only undermine animal welfare but also exact enormous economic costs through lost productivity, increased treatment costs, and trade embargos. Effective management of these diseases requires multi-faceted control measures, including vaccination, biosecurity measures, and genetic improvement of host resistance (Zhou et al., 2024). Traditional breeding techniques for disease resistance are largely based on phenotypic selection and family schemes of breeding. While these have yielded measurable progress, they are handicapped by long generation periods, low precision of selection against multigenic traits, and the predominance of environmental influences on phenotypes. In addition, polygenic control of disease resistance and the presence of low-effect genes limit the effectiveness of conventional selection to realize entirely all available genetic variation, causing a consequent lag in overall genetic advance (Li et al., 2025b).
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