White feather broiler breeds, which account for about half of my country's broiler production, are completely dependent on imports

How to solve the problem of broiler industry provenance

　　Our reporter Huang Junyi

　　In our country, chicken is the second largest meat production and consumer product after pork.

my country's annual production of broilers exceeds 10 billion, ranking first in the world.

What about the provenance?

　　"For a long time, the provenance of white feather broilers, which accounted for about half of my country's broiler production, has been imported from abroad and is severely constrained by others. Effective measures must be taken to increase the cultivation of new domestic varieties of white feather broilers and break through the core provenance'stuck neck' technology as soon as possible. Bottleneck." Zhao Guiping, a researcher at the Beijing Institute of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Medicine, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, said in an interview with a reporter from Economic Daily.

Provenance is severely constrained by others

　　The national chicken production in 2020 will increase by more than 5% over 2019, reaching 14.85 million tons, accounting for about 19% of the country's total meat, far exceeding the total output of 11.64 million tons of beef and mutton.

　　my country's broiler industry has established a relatively complete industrial chain, with the highest industrial concentration and industrialization in the entire animal husbandry industry, and its contribution to the country's total meat output has stabilized at about 15%.

With the outbreak of African swine fever in 2019, the number of broiler chickens in my country has expanded to 10.48 billion, and the output has increased by 10%, making an outstanding contribution to the alternative supply of pork.

　　However, compared with developed countries, the annual per capita consumption of chicken meat in my country is still low.

Zhao Guiping believes that in the context of tightening resource constraints and increasing environmental pressures, with the rapid increase in consumer demand, broiler chickens have the advantages of short production cycle, high efficiency and suitable for processing. In ensuring the effective supply of meat products in my country, Will play an increasingly important role.

　　For a long time, the source of white feather broilers in my country has been dependent on imports, which is severely restricted by others.

The world produces about 11.6 million sets of white feather broiler ancestor breeders, about 600 million sets of parent breeders, and about 80 billion commercial chicks every year.

At present, the global white feather broiler breed source is mainly monopolized by Aviagen, a subsidiary of the international poultry giant German EW Group, and Cobb-Vantress, which is owned by Tyson Group, the world's largest meat processing company in the United States.

Since the beginning of the 21st century, due to the suspension of the breeding of white feather broilers in my country, all the improved breeds used in production have begun to be imported from abroad.

At present, the introduced varieties are mainly AA+, Hubbard, Kebao and Ross 308. The annual introduction of 800,000 to 1.2 million sets of ancestral breeders is about 40 million US dollars.

　　Long-term introduction of species poses a great threat to my country's provenance security, industrial security and biosecurity.

For example, white feather broiler breeds are 100% dependent on imports, and about 1 million sets of ancestral broiler breeders need to be introduced each year for production. The import channels are varied and the problem of seed source supply is prominent.

Before 2014, more than 95% of my country's white feather broiler ancestor breeder imports came from the United States.

After the outbreak of avian influenza in the United States in 2014, with the development of avian influenza epidemics around the world and the adjustment of my country's customs import policies, domestic chicken companies had to switch to introducing white feather broiler ancestor breeders from the United Kingdom, France, Spain, Poland, and New Zealand.

Many hidden dangers of relying on imports

　　"The provenance is at the high end of the animal husbandry value chain, and the excessive dependence of the provenance on imports will lead to increased product price fluctuations. Once foreign breeding companies stop supplying breeder chickens, it will directly threaten the security of my country's meat food supply." Industry experts believe that introductions still exist. There is a great risk of introduction of diseases, such as avian leukemia, which was introduced into my country due to imported species.

　　In fact, the breeding of white feather broilers in my country started 35 years ago.

In 1986, the former Ministry of Agriculture decided to build a chicken breeder farm in Gansu Province in Lanzhou, and introduced ISA Vedette original breeders from France's 5 series.

In 1987, the Beijing Poultry Breeding Company established by a Sino-foreign joint venture introduced Avian original breeders.

Through the joint efforts of scientific and technical personnel, my country's local breeding has achieved great success. By 2002, Avian broiler breeders had a 55% market share in domestic breeders.

Regrettably, due to the 2004 avian influenza epidemic and other breeding chicken disease purification problems, the Avian broiler that my country independently cultivated withdrew from the market.

　　Since 2010, some domestic units have initiated the breeding of white feather broilers, especially in 2019 the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs launched the National Livestock and Poultry Joint Research Program.

At present, some leading enterprises have carried out the cultivation of new breeds of white feather broilers, and some breeds have been basically finalized and have completed performance tests, and initially have the ability to replace imported breeds.

　　By 2018, 1,195 breeder farms have been established nationwide, with 8.699 million sets of ancestral breeders and 78.608 million sets of parent broiler breeders.

Driven by the National Broiler Genetic Improvement Program, 18 core broiler breeding farms and 17 expansion bases have been selected.

Collaborative research on aiming direction

　　Although my country's white feather broiler breeding has made good progress, compared with the international advanced level of white feather broiler breeding, my country's white feather broiler has a short independent breeding time, a weak accumulation basis for high-productivity genetic material, and insufficient application of new technologies such as molecular breeding. There is also a big gap in the research and development of disease purification technology and testing products.

　　At present, due to fierce competition in the market, breeding materials are also becoming concentrated.

Modern white-feather broilers began in Europe and North America in the 1930s. Koshny was used as the breeding material for the male line without exception, and the female line was mainly Bailuoke, which produced heterosis through systematic breeding.

Although our country is rich in poultry genetic resources, the materials that can be used for breeding white-feather broilers are limited, and there is a lack of systematic determination and evaluation.

Foreign poultry breeding companies have established an integrated system of breeding, multiplication and sales in the long-term development process.

However, my country's current white feather broiler ancestral and parental expansion system has long relied on foreign breeds, forming a close interest complex.

The success of domestic breeds depends largely on the technical performance of the breeds, but also on whether they can smoothly integrate into the existing broiler breeder expansion system.

　　Relevant experts believe that the breeding of white feather broilers in my country must first work hard on growth speed and feed conversion rate, and at the same time improve disease resistance, and cannot simply repeat foreign breeding routines.

On the basis of the introduced white-feathered broilers, laying hens and local breeds with Chinese characteristics, special strains such as disease resistance and high egg production can be created to provide breeding materials for high-yield and high-quality white-feathered broilers.

Genotyping technologies such as gene chips can be used to establish a white feather broiler whole genome selection technology platform, focusing on the balanced breeding technology of high growth rate of commercial broilers and breeder reproductive performance.

For the "stuck neck" technical problems in breeding practice, we will gather scientific and technological strengths from all parties to carry out collaborative research.

　　"I hope that relevant departments will make a national broiler industry development plan as soon as possible, and speed up the introduction of new breeds to the market." Zhao Guiping said.