ADVANCED TECHNOLOGIES FOR THE GENETIC IMPROVEMENT OF POULTRY

The poultry industry in the United States underpins the global food system providing an efficient, economical and nutritioussource of animal-based protein (meat and eggs). The industry foundation consists of breeding companies andgrowers/producers distributed throughout the nation (and the world) with a heavy concentration in states from which themembers of Multistate Research Project NC1170 are drawn (e.g., Arkansas, California, Delaware, Georgia, Iowa, Minnesota,North Carolina, Virginia). The USDA Economic Research Service reports that the U.S. poultry industry is the world's largestproducer and second-largest exporter of poultry meat and a major egg producer. The USDA National Agricultural StatisticsService reported that the combined value of production from broilers, eggs, and turkeys in 2015 was $47.9 billion. Many alliedindustries support and are impacted by the poultry industry, e.g., from grain producers and distributors to housing/cagemanufacturers. Thus, the economic impact of the poultry industry to the financial health of the U.S. is enormous. Theinteractions of the poultry researchers involved in NC1170 with their stakeholders takes place via a variety of formats andopportunities so as to integrate our expertise with their needs and goals. These formats include, but are not limited to,organized informal meetings, workshops, and conferences (e.g., Poultry workshop at annual International Plant and AnimalGenome meetings, annual National Breeders Roundtable, annual Poultry Science Association meeting), listserves, web basedtools/utilities useful to the industry, as well as collaborative ventures among research institutions and poultry industrybusinesses. Many NC1170 members have leveraged USDA-AFRI or other federal grants and have substantive collaborationswith poultry breeders and producers. It is noteworthy that many NC1170 researchers not only utilize specialized poultry geneticlines for experimental analysis but also routinely employ commercially-selected foundational lines and crosses in their work.