Climate change and heat stress: Impact on production, reproduction and growth performance of poultry and its mitigation using genetic strategies

Abstract

Heat stress is an important environmental determinant which adversely affects the performance of poultry worldwide. The present communication reviews the impact of heat stress on production, reproduction and growth performance of poultry, and its alleviation using genetic strategies. The adverse effects of high environmental temperature on poultry include decrease in growth rate, body weight, egg production, egg weight, egg quality, meat quality, semen quality, fertility and hatchability, which cause vast financial losses to the poultry industry. High ambient temperature has an antagonistic effect on performance traits of the poultry. Thus, selection of birds for high performance has increased their susceptibility to heat stress. Additionally, heat burden during transportation of birds from one place to another leads to reduced meat quality, increased mortality and welfare issues. Molecular markers are being explored nowadays to recognize the potential candidate genes related to production, reproduction and growth traits for selecting poultry birds to enhance thermo-tolerance and resistance against diseases. In conclusion, there is a critical need of formulating selection strategies based on genetic markers and exploring more genes in addition to HSP25, 70, 90, H1, RB1CC, BAG3, PDK, ID1, Na, F, dw and K responsible for thermoregulation, to improve the overall performance of poultry along with their ability to tolerate heat stress conditions.

Keywords: Climate change; Heat stress; Mitigation; Poultry; Production; Reproduction.