Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Plumage Color and Feather Pecking—Behavioral Differences Associated with PMEL17 Genotypes in Chicken (Gallus gallus)

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Behavior Genetics Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

An F 5 generation of an advanced inter-cross between red junglefowl (wild-type) and White Leghorn (domesticated) was used to investigate earlier findings suggesting that a mutation in the plumage color gene PMEL17 protects against victimization to feather pecking (FP). F 4 parents were selected according to genotype to produce PMEL17 homozygous offspring (i/i and I/I respectively). Birds were raised and their behavior recorded in groups of either two wild-type i/i (dark colored) and one white I/I, or two I/I and one i/i. In addition each bird was tested for feather preference, reaction to novelty, open-field activity, fear for humans, and tonic-immobility. In the home-pens, i/i birds were more feather pecked and had poorer feather condition than I/I birds. No pecking preference for immobile dark colored feathers was observed. In the open-field test i/i birds vocalized more and earlier than I/I birds, and in the fear-for-human test I/I birds had higher activity at 21 weeks of age. No other behavior differences were observed, but clearly, genotypes of PMEL17 affected some aspects of behavior. Such behavioral differences might be important aspects of the mechanism which predispose i/i individuals for being victims of FP.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Bateson W (1902) Experiments with poultry. Rep Evol Comm Roy Soc 1:87–124

    Google Scholar 

  • Baxter LL, Pavam WJ (2003) Pmel17 expression is Mitf-dependent and reveals cranial melanoblast migration during murine development. Gene Expr Patterns 3:703–707

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Bear MF, Connors BW, Paradiso MA (2001) Neuroscience – exploring the brain. 2nd ed. Lippcott Williams and Wilkins, US

    Google Scholar 

  • Berg JM, Tymoczko JL, Stryer L (2002) Biochemistry. 5th ed. WH Freeman and Company, US, pp 880–881

    Google Scholar 

  • Bilčík B, Keeling L (2000) Relationship between feather pecking and ground pecking in laying hens and the effect of group size. Appl Anim Behav Sci 68:55–66

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Blokhuis HJ (1986) Feather-pecking in poultry: its relation with ground pecking. Appl Anim Behav Sci 16:63–67

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Blokhuis HJ, Beutler A (1993) Feather pecking and other characteristics in two lines of laying hens. In: Savory CJ, Hughes BO (eds) 4th European symposium on poultry welfare. Universties Federation for Animal Welfare, pp 266–267

  • Bui BV, Vingry AJ (1999) Development of receptor responses in pigmented and albino guinea-pigs (Cavia porcellus). Doc Ophthalmol 99:151–170

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Buitenhuis AJ, Rodenburg TB, Siwek M, Cornelissen SJB, Nieuwland MGB, Crooijmans R, Groenen MA, Koene P, Bovenhuis H, van der Poel JJ (2005) Quantitative trait loci for behavioural traits in chicken. Livest Prod Sci 93:95–103

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Clark LA, Wahl JM, Rees CA, Murphy KE (2006) Retrotransposon insertion in SILV is responsible for merle patterning of domestic dog. Proc Nat Acad Sci USA. 103:1376–1381

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Cloutier S, Newberry RC, Forster CT, Girsberger KM (2000) Does pecking at inanimate stimuli predict cannibalistic behavior in domestic fowl. Appl Anim Behav Sci 66:119–133

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ensemble (2005) Ensemble ContigView webtool. http://www.ensembl.org/Gallus_gallus/ (30 nov 2005)

  • Freire R, Appleby MC, Hughes BO (1997) Assessment of pre-laying motivation in the domestic hen. Anim Behav 54:313–319

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Gunnarsson S (2000). Laying hens in loose housing systems – clinical, ethological and epidemiological aspects. PhD Thesis, Acta Universitstatis Agriculturae Sueciae, Veterinaria 73

  • Hemmer H (1990) Domestication: the decline of environmental appreciation. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • Huber-Eicher B, Wechsler B (1997) Feather pecking in domestic chicks: its relation to dustbathing and foraging. Anim Behav 54:757–768

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Huber-Eicher B, Wechsler B (1998) The effect of quality and availability of foraging material on feather pecking in laying hen chick. Anim Behav 55:861–873

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Huff ME, Balch WE, Kelly JW (2003) Pathological and functional amyloid formation orchestrated by the secretory pathway. Curr Opin Struct Biol 13:674–682

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Hughes BO (1973) The effect of implanted gondal hormones on feather pecking and cannibalism in pullets. Br Poult Sci 14:341–348

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • International Chicken Genome Sequencing Consortium (2004) Sequence and comparative analysis of the chicken genome provide unique perspectives on vertebrate evolution. Nature 432: 695–717

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jacobsson L, Park P, Wahlberg P, Jiang S, Siegal PB, Andersson L (2004) Assignment of fourteen microsatellite markers to the chicken linkage map. Poult Sci 83:1825–1831

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Jensen P, Keeling L, Schütz K, Andersson L, Mormède P, Brändström H, Forkman B, Kerje S, Fredriksson R, Ohlsson C, Larsson S, Mallmin H, Kindmark A (2005) Feather pecking in chickens is genetically related to behavioural and developmental traits. Physiol Behav 86:52–60

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Johnsen PF, Vestergaard KS, Nørgaard-Nielsen G (1998) Influence of early rearing conditions on the development of feather pecking and cannibalism in domestic fowl. Appl Anim Behav Sci 60:25–41

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jones RB, Blokhuis HJ, Beuving G (1995) Open field and tonic immobility responses in domestic chicks of two genetic lines differing in their propensity to feather peck. Br Poult Sci 36:525–530

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Keeler C (1942) The association of the black (non-agouti) gene with behavior in the Norway rat. J Hered 33:371–384

    Google Scholar 

  • Keeler C, Moore L (1961) Psychosomatic synthesis of behavior trends in the taming of Mink. Bull Ga Acad Sci 19:66–74

    Google Scholar 

  • Keeling L, Andersson L, Schütz KE, Kerje S, Fredriksson R, Carlborg Ö, Cornwallis CK, Pizzari T, Jensen P (2004) Feather-pecking and victim pigmentation. Nature 431:645–646

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Kerje S, Carlborg Ö, Jacobsson L, Schütz K, Jensen P, Andersson L (2003) The two-fold difference in adult size between the red jungle fowl and White Leghorn chickens is largely explained by a limited number of QTLs. Anim Genet 34:264–274

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Kerje S, Sharma P, Gunnarsson U, Kim H, Bagchi S, Fredriksson R, Schütz K, Jensen P, von Heijne G, Okimoto R, Andersson L (2004) The Dominant white, Dun and Smokey color variation in chicken are associated with insertion/deletion polymorphism in the PMEL17 gene. Genetics. 168:1507–1518

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Kjaer JB, Sørensen P (1997) Feather pecking behavior in White Leghorn – a genetic study. Br Poult Sci 38:333–341

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Kjaer JB, Sørensen P, Su G (2001) Divergent selection on feather pecking behavior in laying hens (Gallus gallus domesticus). Appl Anim Behav Sci 71:229–239

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Korte SM, Beuving G, Ruesink W, Blokhuis HJ (1997) Plasma catecholamine and corticosterone levels during manual restraint in chicks from a high and low feather pecking line of laying hens. Physiol Behav 62:437–441

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • O’steen KW, Spencer RL, Bare DJ, McEwen BS (1995) Analysis of severe photoreceptor loss and Morris water-maze performance in aged rats. Behav Brain Res 68:151–158

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Prescott NB, Jarvis JR, Wathes CM (2004) Vision in the laying hen. In: Welfare of the laying hen. Perry G (ed) Welfare of the laying hen. CABI Publishing, UK, pp 155–164

  • Ren JQ, McCarthy WR, Zhang H, Adolph AR, Li L (2002) Behavioral visual response of wild-typed and hypopigmented zebrafish. Vision Res 42:293–299

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Riedstra B, Groothuis TGG (2002) Early feather pecking as a form of social exploration: the effect of group stability in feather pecking and tonic immobility in domestic chicks. Appl Anim Behav Sci 77:127–138

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Savory CJ, Mann JS (1999) Feather Pecking in Groups of Growing Bantams in Relation to Floor Litter Substrate and Plumage Color. Br Poult Sci 40:565–572

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Schütz K, Forkman B, Jensen P (2001) Domestication effect of foraging strategy, social behavior and different fear responses: a comparisons between the red junglefowl (Gallus gallus) and a modern layer strain. Appl Anim Behav Sci 74:1–14

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schütz K, Kerje S, Carlborg Ö, Jacobsson L, Andersson L, Jensen P (2002) QTL analysis of red junglefowl x White Leghorn intercross reveals trade-off in resource allocation between behavior and production trait. Behav Genet 32:423–433

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Su G, Kjaer JB, Sorensen P (2006) Divergent selection on feather pecking behavior in laying hens had caused differences between lines in egg production, egg quality and feed efficiency. Poult Sci 85:191–197

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Trut LN (1999) Early Canid Domestication: The Farm-Fox Experiment. Am Sci 87:160–169

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Uniprot (2005) Protein sequence databases. http://www.ebi.uniprot.org (30 nov 2005)

  • Wagner SN, Wagner C, Schultewolter T, Goos M (1997) Analysis of PMEL17/gp100 expression in primary human tissue specimens: implications for melanoma immuno-and gene-therapy. Cancer Immunol Immunother 44:239–247

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • van Hierden YM, Korte SM, Ruesink EW, van Reenen CG, Engel B, Korte-Bouws GAH, Koolhaas JM, Blokhuis HJ (2002) Adrenocortical reactivity and central serotonin and dopamine turnover in young chicks from a high and low feather pecking line of laying hens. Physiol Behav 75:653–659

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Vestergaard KS, Kruijt JP, Hogan JA (1993) Feather pecking and chronic fear in groups of red junglefowl: their relations to dustbathing, rearing environment and social status. Anim Behav 45:1127–1140

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Väisänen J, Jensen P (2003) Social versus exploration and foraging motivation in young red junglefowl (Gallus gallus) and White Leghorn layers. Appl Anim Behav Sci 84:139–158

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Väisänen J, Lindqvist C, Jensen P (2005) Co-segregation of behaviour and production traits in an F 3 intercross between red junglefowl and White Leghorn laying hens. Livest Prod Sci 94:149–158

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yngvesson J (2002). Cannibalism in laying hens. PhD Thesis, Acta Universitatis Agriculturae Sueciae, Veterinaria 73.

Download references

Acknowledgments

This project was funded by Wallenberg Consortium North. We want to especially thank our technician Alf Blomqvist and Ann Larsen at SLU, Skara, Sweden.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biology IFM, Linköping University, SE-58183, Linköping, Sweden

    Daniel Nätt & Per Jensen

  2. Department of Animal Breeding and Genetics, Uppsala Biomedical Center, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, SE-751 24, Uppsala, Sweden

    Susanne Kerje & Leif Andersson

  3. Department of Medical Biochemistry and Microbiology, Uppsala University, SE-751 24, Uppsala, Sweden

    Leif Andersson

Authors
  1. Daniel Nätt
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Susanne Kerje
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Leif Andersson
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Per Jensen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Per Jensen.

Additional information

Edited by Stephen Maxson

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Nätt, D., Kerje, S., Andersson, L. et al. Plumage Color and Feather Pecking—Behavioral Differences Associated with PMEL17 Genotypes in Chicken (Gallus gallus). Behav Genet 37, 399–407 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10519-006-9125-0

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10519-006-9125-0

Keywords

Search

Navigation