doi:10.

1017/S0043933909000245

The global plan of action for animal

genetic resources and the conservation of
poultry genetic resources
I. HOFFMANN

Animal Production and Health Division, FAO, Viale delle Terme di Caracalla,
00153 Rome, Italy
Corresponding author: [email protected]

The Global Plan of Action for Animal Genetic Resources was adopted by 109
countries in Interlaken, in September 2007. It aims to promote a pragmatic,
systematic and efficient overall approach, which harmoniously addresses the
development of institutions, human resources, cooperative frameworks, and
resource mobilization for the sustainable use and conservation of animal genetic
resources. The Global Plan of Action contains five Strategic Priorities for Action on
conservation. Countries have thereby committed themselves to develop national
conservation policies, to establish or strengthen in situ and ex situ conservation
programmes, to develop and implement regional and global long-term
conservation strategies and to develop approaches and technical standards for
conservation.
Within avian breeds globally, 30% are at risk and 9% are extinct. The proportion
of breeds at risk and extinct is highest in chickens. Fast structural change has been
identified as one threat to genetic resources. Following the advent of highly
pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) H5N1, conservation of poultry genetic
resources has been discussed. Although in situ conservation of poultry breeds is
the preferred method, cryoconservation technology has advanced. Poultry genetic
resources are under-conserved, and strategic approaches to conservation need to be
developed and implemented.

Keywords: plan of action; poultry genetic resources; poultry genetic conservation

Introduction
The main achievement of the International Technical Conference on Animal Genetic
Resources for Food and Agriculture, held 3-7 September 2007 in Interlaken, Switzerland,

The views expressed in this publication are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.

© Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations 2009

World's Poultry Science Journal, Vol. 65, June 2009
Received for publication January 27, 2009
Accepted for publication January 30, 2009 286
 Global plan of action for animal genetic resources: I. Hoffmann

was the adoption of the Global Plan of Action for Animal Genetic Resources. The Global
Plan of Action represents a milestone for the livestock sector and a major building block
in the development of a coherent international framework for the wise management of
agricultural biodiversity as a whole, and contributes to the implementation of the
Programme of Work on Agricultural Biodiversity of the Convention on Biological
Diversity (FAO, 2007a). The Global Plan of Action promotes a pragmatic, systematic
and efficient overall approach that harmoniously addresses the development of
institutions, human resources, cooperative frameworks, and resource mobilisation for
the sustainable use and conservation of animal genetic resources. It consists of three
parts: I. the Rationale; II. the Strategic Priorities for Action; and III. Implementation and
Financing of the Global Plan of Action. The core of the Global Plan of Action include 23
Strategic Priorities, clustered into four Priority Areas: Area 1: Characterization, inventory
and monitoring of trends and associated risks; Area 2: Sustainable use and development;
Area 3: Conservation; and Area 4: Policies, institutions and capacity-building. Each
Strategic Priority includes individual actions that are needed to achieve the desired
outcomes or improvements in current conditions. The Global Plan of Action contains
five Strategic Priorities for Action on conservation. Countries have thereby committed
themselves to develop national conservation policies, to establish or strengthen in situ
and ex situ conservation programmes, to develop and implement regional and global
long-term conservation strategies and to develop approaches and technical standards for
conservation.
The State of the World's Animal Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (FAO,
2007b) provided the technical basis for the Global Plan of Action. Analysis of 169
Country Reports revealed that the rapid spread of homogenous large-scale intensive
production; inappropriate development policies and management strategies; disease
outbreaks and control programmes; and various types of disasters and emergencies
were important threats to animal genetic resources (FAO, 2007b). All these threats are
present in the poultry sector and the speed of change may require immediate conservation
action.
The paper first provides an overview over the status of poultry genetic resources and
threats to them. Then, conservation technologies and programmes are presented.

Breeding and genetics in the poultry sector

The global poultry sector is divided into two distinct sub-sectors: the large-scale
commercial operations, dominated by international, developed-country based and
vertically integrated companies, and the small-scale operations that predominate in the
least developed countries (Pym et al., 2006). The poultry sector is the fastest developing
global livestock sub-sector. Developments in poultry breeding, feeding and housing have
enabled an unprecedented increase in production and productivity. Globally, 82 million
tonnes poultry meat and 66 million tonnes of eggs were produced in 2006 (FAO). Poultry
consumption is projected to grow at 2.5 percent per annum to 2030, exceeding other
meats, and at 3.4 percent per annum in developing countries (FAO, 2006).
Industrial production systems now account for an estimated 67% of global poultry meat
production and 50% of global egg production (FAO, 2004), with large differences
between countries (Pym et al., 2006). Most of the commercial layer and broiler
stocks were created from a limited number of breeds in the last century in Europe
and North America. Breeding activities, both for chicken layers and broilers, and for
turkeys, are dominated by a few trans-national breeding companies that market their
products worldwide.

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Global plan of action for animal genetic resources: I. Hoffmann

Small-scale poultry provides up to 90% of total production in some of the least

developed countries. Despite the high number of poultry and the variety of poultry
breeds kept by smallholders in developing countries, the Country Reports prepared for
The State of the World's Animal Genetic Resources indicated that very few countries had
capacity in poultry breeding. This is mainly due to the large difference in production
between commercial and local poultry, leaving developing countries little incentive to
develop their national breeding industry, as they can simply import grandparent/parent
stock. Only 18% of countries where chickens are kept reported breeding as a priority, and
only 14% had structured breeding activities for poultry. Even fewer countries reported
structured breeding activities for turkeys (5 countries), ducks (8 countries) and geese (4
countries). The low importance of local chicken breeding programmes is reflected by a
small proportion of breeds with a specific breeding goal (13%) and breeding strategy
(11%). Europe and the Caucasus region has a higher proportion of breeds with breeding
strategies than the other regions (FAO, 2007b).
Two additional recent developments may further threaten poultry genetic diversity,
albeit indirectly due to the structural changes they bring along: highly pathogenic avian
influenza (HPAI) outbreaks and increasing feed prices. The outbreaks of HPAI since
2003 have raised awareness about the risk of losing genetic diversity, either directly
through the disease, or through related culling, movement restrictions or restructuring of
the sector. HPAI and other disease outbreaks may have a direct impact on localized
populations. The related restructuring of the poultry sector has the potential to
marginalize smallholders and add another risk of extinction for local breeds. HPAI-
related movement controls and the banning of exhibitions has led to a reduction in
the number of breeders and increased inbreeding in some European fancy breeds.
However, due to difficulties in data collection, no hard data are available to show that
HPAI has directly decreased diversity (Hoffmann, 2007).
If the present increase in feed prices (the major cost of production) continues, the
comparative advantage of poultry species in feed-conversion ratio relative to other
livestock will increase. This may accelerate the shift between animal species used for
food production. Also, commercial poultry, which have much better feed conversion
efficiency, may further out-compete local breeds. It is therefore timely to take stock of
poultry diversity and conservation measures.

Status of poultry genetic diversity

FAO has recently finalized the report: The State of the World's Animal Genetic
Resources, which is the first assessment of domestic animal diversity (FAO, 2007b).
During this process, the Global Databank in the Domestic Animal Diversity Information
System (DAD-IS) was updated and now contains information from 182 countries and 35
species of birds and mammals. Breed-related information on 16 avian species and one
fertile interspecies crossing (Muscovy duck crosses) exist, with 3505 country-breed
populations and about 2000 breeds. The FAO applies a very wide breed definition,
which is more difficult to apply in avian species than mammals, as poultry diversity
is often referred to in terms of ecotypes or strains (see below).
Many reported national breed populations occur in more than one country; these
populations have been linked, and are referred to as ‘trans-boundary’ breeds. The
number of ‘local’ poultry breeds (reported in only one country) reached 1644. There
are records of 85 ‘regional trans-boundary’ breeds (reported by several countries of one
region), most of them in Europe and the Caucasus, and 157 ‘international trans-
boundary’ breeds (reported by countries of several regions), 101 of which are chicken

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 Global plan of action for animal genetic resources: I. Hoffmann

breeds (16 turkey, 15 goose, 12 duck). European origin accounts for 26, commercial
strains for 19, and North American origin for seven out of the 67 most widely reported
chicken breeds (FAO, 2007b) (Table 1).
Table 1 Most reported poultry breeds.

Chicken breeds Countries reporting Duck breeds Countries reporting

their presence their presence

Rhode Island Red chicken 56 Pekin duck 37

Leghorn chicken 55 Muscovy duck 27
Plymouth Rock chicken 28
Sussex chicken 17

Source: DAD-IS

The species are not evenly distributed across regions, reflecting the origins of
domestication and subsequent distribution by humans: while 14 species are present in
both Asia and in Europe and the Caucasus, fewer species are reported from the other
regions (FAO, 2007b). Chicken breeds make up the majority (63%) of the total number
of avian breeds in the world, followed by duck (11%), goose (9%) and turkey (5%)
breeds. Pigeons and guinea fowl each make up 3%, and all other avian species together
make up 6%.
The numbers of local breeds per region are influenced by the number of breeds that had
been developed in the region before commercialization of the sector began, the number of
breeders that maintain them (e.g. in Europe), and the degree of current
commercialization. Asia, being the origin of domestication for chickens and ducks,
has many local breeds in both species (Figure 1). The high number of breeds
reported by Europe and the Caucasus reflects, firstly, the well developed national
reporting systems, but also the long history of breed formation, including through
imports from other regions, and the ‘formalization’ of breeds in standards or registries.
The share of local chicken breeds differs by region (Figure 2). Asia, and Europe and
the Caucasus report more than 400 breeds each, Africa, and Latin America and the
Caribbean report more than 100 each, and the Near and Middle East, North America
and the Southwest Pacific fewer than 40 each.
Population data (a prerequisite for breed genetic management and the assessment of the
risk status) are missing in most cases, primarily due to the difficulties of monitoring small
livestock. The lack of information also reflects the low importance governments attribute
to poultry, despite their important role in food security, rural livelihoods and gender
equity. As a result, for 36% of reported breeds, the risk status is unknown. Another 35%
are reported as not being at risk, whilst 30% of avian breeds are classified as being at risk.
Out of 2000 reported avian breeds, 9% (83% of which are chickens) were reported as
extinct (FAO, 2007b). The majority of the extinct breeds are reported from Europe
(Figure 3).

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Global plan of action for animal genetic resources: I. Hoffmann

700 80

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Figure 1 Local and regional trans-boundary breeds for the four main poultry species: chicken, turkey,
duck, goose, by region (FAO, 2007b; DAD-IS).
L local breeds, RT regional trans-boundary breeds. AF = Africa; AS = Asia; ER = Europe & the
Caucasus; LAC= Latin America & the Caribbean; NME = Near & Middle East; NA = North
America; SWP = Southwest Pacific.

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Figure 2 Origin of chicken breeds, by sub-region (DAD-IS, FAO, 2007b).

The regions with the greatest proportion of avian breeds classified as ‘at risk’ are North
America (79%) and Europe and the Caucasus (49%). These are the regions that have the
most highly-specialised livestock industries, in which production is dominated by a small
number of breeds/lines. The proportion of breeds at risk is high in chickens and turkeys

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 Global plan of action for animal genetic resources: I. Hoffmann

(36%), geese (31%) and ducks (25%), thereby following their global economic
importance.
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Figure 3 Risk status of chicken breeds by sub-region (DAD-IS, FAO, 2007b).

Conservation of poultry genetic resources

In developing countries, the role of poultry, especially chickens, in small-scale farming
and the preference of consumers for meat from local birds will support the continued use
of many local breeds, thereby reducing the need for direct conservation interventions. In
addition, poultry are kept as a hobby in many developed and some developing countries.
This practice offers opportunities for in vivo conservation which allows the continued
evolution of the breeds. Research institutes and universities in North America and Europe
try to conserve local breeds, mainly chickens, and experimental lines that have no current
use (Gibson et al., 2006; FAO, 2007b). Due to budget limitations, these poultry flocks are
at risk of being culled in many cases.

CONSERVATION TECHNOLOGY
In situ conservation of poultry genetic resources is not necessarily dependent on high-
tech approaches or facilities, but mainly on skills and recording. The technologies are
known and software is available to manage small populations. However, some breeds are
kept by only a few breeders; e.g. some chicken breeds in Europe are kept by less than 20
breeders and have population sizes well below 200 animals. Many poultry breeders are
older people, and there is less interest in such breeding displayed by younger generations.
This factor may pose a problem for the maintenance of populations, especially if
localised disasters (e.g. outbreaks of HPAI) occur (Carlson et al., 2009).
Ex situ conservation represents an integral component of conservation strategies and
should strategically complement in situ conservation (Gibson et al., 2006; FAO, 2007b).
Although some programmes focus primarily on cryo-conservation of rare breeds (see

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Global plan of action for animal genetic resources: I. Hoffmann

below), ex situ collections should capture as much genetic diversity at the allele level as
possible.
Blesbois (2007) has recently reviewed the status of cryo-conservation for avian species,
which lags far behind that for mammals. The efficiency and efficacy of ex situ
conservation depend on advances in reproductive and cryo-conservation technology.
Such technologies are usually infrastructure-dependent. Cryo-conservation involves
high start-up costs for collection and freezing, but relatively low long-term storage
costs, while the expected future use of conserved genetic material is not yet clear. In
situ programmes, on the other hand, tend to have low start-up costs, but may require
long-term financial support. They have the advantages that the genetic material is
immediately available for use and continues to evolve (Woolliams et al., 2007).
Simianer and Weigend (2007) found lower costs of chicken ex situ in vitro than ex
situ in vivo conservation, but breed re-establishment from in vitro collections was not
considered.
Insemination with frozen semen, the usual basis of building cryo-banks, is not widely
used in poultry. Fresh semen is commonly used in commercial breeding programmes.
Semen-freezing techniques render a fair (60%) post-thaw sperm survival, although
differences in the ‘freezability’ of semen between breeds, lines and individual males
are considerable. As a consequence, frozen semen of some genetically interesting breeds
or individual males may not be suitable as a gene bank resource, or yield poor efficiency,
which increases the amount of semen stored (Hiemstra et al., 2006). Hiemstra (2007)
reported that a new freezing medium improved freezing and insemination results. He
estimated that semen from ten cockerels are needed to capture the total diversity of rare
breeds, and 600 doses are required to re-establish a breed. Simianer and Weigend (2007)
based their calculations on 100 roosters.
Repeated backcrossing is required to re-establish a breed through frozen semen, but
results in a time lag of up to seven generations (Blesbois, 2007; Hiemstra et al., 2006).
Also, the original genome of the lost breed can never be fully restored through cryo-
conserved semen, due to the loss of mitochondrial DNA. Although cryo-conserved
embryos allow the complete re-establishment of a breed, this is not possible for avian
species. Cryo-conservation of isolated embryonic cells, primordial germ cells or
blastoderm cells may be a future option, but are currently too costly for genetic
conservation programmes.

CONSERVATION PROGRAMMES
Information on poultry conservation programmes is not easy to find. Table 2 indicates
that around 25% of chicken breeds are in some sort of conservation programme, with no
information provided about the efficiency of the programme.
Table 2 Chicken conservation activities.

Breeds reported Conservation method

Local Regional trans- in vivo* in vitro*

boundary

Global 1077 55 194 87

Africa 89 6 1 0
Asia 243 2 92 73
Europe and Caucasus 608 45 101 6
Latin America and Caribbean 84 1 0 0
Near and Middle East 24 0 0 0
North America 12 1 0 8

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 Global plan of action for animal genetic resources: I. Hoffmann

Table 2 Continued

Breeds reported Conservation method

Local Regional trans- in vivo* in vitro*

boundary

Southwest Pacific 17 0 0 0

(source: FAO, 2007b, *double counting of breeds possible)

Another analysis of the Country Reports revealed that 26 countries (15% of all
countries), including eight developing countries, had poultry conservation programmes
(in vivo and in vitro) covering 63% of their local breeds. They also had conservation
programmes for national populations of trans-boundary breeds, which covered 11% of
those breeds. Many of the fancy/hobby breeds in Europe may fall under this category. By
species, 24 countries (68%) had programmes for chickens, seven for ducks (20%), and
two each for geese and turkeys (6% each). Equal proportions of countries stored material
as semen, tissue or DNA. Half of the programmes were run entirely by governments, the
other half co-operated with the private sector, research groups and NGOs.
The Global Databank indicates that 195 poultry breeds (77% chicken, 9% ducks, 9%
geese, 3% turkey) are in conservation programmes. For 70% of these breeds, the
population figures were collected before the year 2000, and a new population census
is required to bring this up to date. Of the available figures, 164 are local populations, and
30 are sub-populations of 27 different trans-boundary breeds.
Country-specific programmes, which may not be recorded in the Global Databank,
revealed that in France, for example, 154 rare chicken lines are managed in vivo
(Blesbois, 2007). In a national programme in Vietnam, eight chicken, four duck and
one goose breeds are conserved in situ; including crossbreds of exotic and indigenous
chicken and duck breeds targeted for creation of new products to maintain the local
breeds (Thuy et al., 2003). Many NGOs in developed countries have specifically targeted
rare breeds. The list of endangered Dutch breeds and species of domesticated chickens,
ducks and geese has been stable since 2002 (Polmann, 2008).
In vitro conservation of semen is a recent development for chickens (Table 3). Frozen
semen from local breeds is stored in a few Asian and European countries. Semen of 20
Dutch rare chicken breeds has been frozen (Hiemstra, 2007), but the cryo-bank does not
contain semen of the trans-boundary breeds kept by Dutch hobby breeders (Polmann,
2008).

Table 3 Examples for in vitro collections of poultry genetic material.

US National Animal Germplasm Programme Collection of 59 public research chicken lines; 2132 semen
straws from 451 males, 2915 tissue samples (Blackburn, 2006)
Netherlands Centre of Genetic Resources 11000 semen straws from 21 rare indigenous breeds (Woelders et
al., 2006; Hiemstra, 2007)
France National Cryo-bank of Domestic Chicken: 18 old rare indigenous breeds; 61 males with
Animals exceptional genotypes from public experimental lines; 12000
semen straws from 384 males. Pekin duck and goose will soon be
added (Blesbois, 2007)
Vietnam conservation programme Semen, DNA and somatic cells for six breeds of chickens and
three of ducks (Thuy et al., 2003)

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MAKING CONSERVATION DECISIONS

Poultry are the only species with a well-developed hobby and fancy breed segment in
parallel to breeds used for food and agriculture. Therefore, Russell (1998) differentiates
poultry breeds into categories that include industrial lines; breeds used in traditional
agriculture, historical breeds including old landraces; breeds used for games such as
cockfighting; ornamental breeds or those used mainly for exhibitions, and experimental
lines. German fancy breed societies, for example, maintain about 200 chicken and dwarf
chicken breeds, some with up to 20 different colour or comb variations (Simianer and
Weigend, 2007). This variety might represent a potential allele reservoir for future
breeding purposes, but it also complicates decision-making for conservation.
Resources for conservation are limited, necessitating the need for criteria to identify
breeds to be included in conservation projects. In the past, breeds of specific phenotypes
with low population numbers and therefore at risk were included in conservation
programmes. In the past decade, a modified ‘Weitzman’ approach to conservation
(Weitzman, 1993) has been applied to livestock, taking into account genetic diversity
estimated at the molecular level, extinction probabilities and risk status (including
through crossbreeding or genetic drift), marginal diversity of one breed in a reference
group, capacity of breeding institutions and socio-economic factors (Simianer et al.,
2003; Simianer, 2005; Reist-Marti et al., 2003, 2006; Eding et al., 2002; Simianer
and Weigend, 2007).
Poultry genetic diversity has recently been investigated at the DNA level (Hillel et al.,
2003; Cuc et al., 2006; Muchadeyi 2007; Li et al., 2006; Li et al., 2007; Granevitze et
al., 2007). Most studies, comparing native chicken breeds from developing countries or
fancy breeds in developed countries, reveal that these breeds add to overall diversity and
may have a high conservation potential. Within-breed diversity covers the majority of the
entire genetic diversity in studies in Germany (Pinent et al., 2006), Africa (Muchadeyi,
2007) and Asia (Cuc et al., 2006), however, between-breed diversity contributes to the
conservation potential of breeds. Genetic diversity within populations is higher in
developing country populations than in commercial populations and European fancy
breeds (Granevitze et al., 2007; Muchadeyi, 2007). This can be explained by the
history, where more breeds have been developed in Europe with resulting relatively
higher between-breed diversity, while less-defined developing country breeds harbour
wider diversity. Granevitze et al. (2007) also noted that some European local populations
with cultural–historical value kept under conservation programmes and fancy breeds
were found to show considerable levels of inbreeding.
Geographical isolation contributes to genetic diversity between breeds, but this effect is
reduced by geneflow. The mobility of Chinese ducks and geese may have contributed to
geneflow between populations (Li et al., 2006; 2007). Probably due to exchanges, the
highly diverse Zimbabwe chicken populations are not genetically sub-structured into eco-
types. However, with increasing geographical distance, Zimbabwean populations are
distinct from Malawi and Sudanese local chickens and from commercial lines
(Muchadeyi, 2007).

Conclusions
This paper has illustrated the high endangered status of poultry genetic diversity, with
30% of reported poultry breeds at risk, a low level of characterisation and a low number
of structured breeding or conservation programmes, particularly in developing countries.
Characterisation, inventories and spatial information are needed for improved

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management of poultry genetic resources to reflect poultry's important role in food

security, rural livelihoods and gender equity.
For the most important poultry species, the diversity of phenotypes between breeds is
not fully reflected in genetic diversity due to high within-breed diversity (Granevitze et
al., 2007). Many conservation decisions to date have been mostly based on between-
breed diversity and risk levels based on population figures, often only at a national level.
Within-breed diversity is large in poultry breeds across species, due to past and current
exchanges, however, knowledge about genetic diversity is still lacking, even in
developed countries (Blackburn, 2006). Diversity and characterisation studies,
including the search for functional traits, are therefore prerequisites for rational
conservation decisions. International research projects such as AVIANDIV and
GLOBALDIV are extremely important in this regard, and the need for meta-analysis
across countries and regions cannot be emphasised enough.
The high within-breed diversity, especially in chickens, and the relatively high number
of trans-boundary breeds have implications for conservation programmes. The inclusion
of breeds from unconnected and distinct geographical locations may increase the
between-breed diversity captured even if no detailed molecular characterization
information is available. Breeds that have not been genetically managed and those
without closely related populations should be preferred for conservation programmes.
National conservation programmes that ignore closely related and non-threatened breeds
elsewhere may lead to suboptimal allocation of funds and conservation efficiency
(Simianer, 2005); therefore, conservation strategies should be developed at supra-
national level.
Valuable genetic material should be cryo-conserved in a precautionary manner, in view
of the fast structural changes in the poultry sector and the risks facing the avian species
kept at high densities all over the world, especially in view of epidemics. In vitro
conservation of local breeds, wild relatives and populations with known specific traits
should be given a high priority at the global level. Because commercial lines contain a
share of the genetic diversity, they should also be included in national cryo-banks; the
operational protocols would need to be developed.

Acknowledgements
I am grateful for comments received by Steffen Weigend, Badi Besbes and Dafydd
Pilling on earlier versions of the paper.

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