RDE715 Animal welfare indicators for precision bred cattle, sheep and turkey

Award outcome

Description

Precision breeding technologies, such as gene editing, have the potential to improve the health and welfare of animals, and improve the sustainability and resilience of farming systems. Such technologies can enable new traits to be developed more precisely and more efficiently than traditional breeding techniques. There are already examples of research taking place across the UK to develop resistance against some devastating diseases such as porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome in pigs, bird flu in chickens and Infectious Pancreatic Necrosis virus in fish. At the same time, many respondents to Defra's consultation on gene editing, as well as contributors to discussions during the passage of legislation through Parliament, voiced concerns that use of the technology might exacerbate animal welfare issues in breeding. As such, this project will develop welfare indicators for precision bred cattle (dairy and beef), sheep and turkey, building on the scoping work and overarching framework set out in AW0521. The species-specific welfare assessments will be divided into three tiers; basic tier - a baseline of what is already done in a commercial setting including, for instance, basic processes included in breeding industry manuals, and basic health checks and routine monitoring checks by farm staff or veterinarians; enhanced tier - AW0521 noted that the basic-tier of indicators for pigs, poultry, and salmon, did not cover all of the Five Domains. If this is also the case for any of the new species being considered here, an "enhanced" tier of indicators will be included to assess welfare across all Five Domains; Enhanced plus tier - AW0521 considered a number of behavioural tests that give a more in-depth analysis of the animal's cognitive and emotional function, and some laboratory tests. These tests typically require specialised equipment or testing expertise that may not currently be available in breeding companies. The first project also considered indicators that need further development for use in an on-farm welfare assessment setting. If any such indicators are identified for the new species now being considered, they will be included in an "enhanced-plus" tier. For each species, the key life stages will be identified, following the approach in AW0521 of following the key developmental stages, such as birth, nutritional independence, appropriate growth stages / commercial production stages and reproductive stages. If the effects of a gene edit may manifest themselves at different stages of life, then the welfare indicators will be sorted by life stage to ensure that the impact of the precision bred trait on the animal's health and welfare can be fully assessed.

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