Location: Agricultural Genetic Resources Preservation Research
Project Number: 3012-31000-007-027-A
Project Type: Cooperative Agreement
Start Date: Aug 3, 2026
End Date: Aug 2, 2028
Objective:
To conduct research that increases the capabilities of the National Animal Germplasm Program (NAGP) to conserve and utilize chicken genetic resources. To that end, effective and efficient conservation requires understanding and/or use of live animal populations, genetics, cryopreservation, and information. The NAGP addresses these genetic resource issues by the following elements:
1. Understanding the population dynamics of poultry breeds (both numerically and genetically).
2. Acquiring and storing cryopreserved germplasm (where possible) from food animal species.
3. Evaluating potential viability of germplasm in cryostorage as well as improving the efficacy of cryopreserving germplasm.
Together, these 3 elements will be used to develop, optimize, and validate chicken assisted reproductive technologies and create a collection of secure genetic resources for U.S. producers. The activities within this research will enable testing the efficacy and efficiency of using sample collected and stored in the national repository, testing their viability and fertility, determining the ability to transfer genotypes to subsequent generations, and then develop repopulation models from these activites.
Approach:
Frozen-thawed rooster sperm samples from 3 roosters from the VA Tech HWS51 line (previously frozen in 2008 by the National Animal Germplasm Program) and 3 roosters from HWS69 (current generation, hatched March 3, 2026) will be used to inseminate 10 HWS69 females, aiming to have full sister pairs to compare between different male generations. These matings will result in 60 progeny per male generation (120 total progeny for data collection).
From these matings the fertility, hatchability, 4- and 8-week weights, and blood from parents and F1 progeny will be collected. The blood samples will be sent out for commercial DNA extraction genotyping.
The genotypes from both generations (51 and 69) will be compared to determine how allele frequencies have shifted over time and assess the rate of genetic drift. The fertility and hatchability data will inform about the quality of rooster sperm stored frozen for significant periods of time, and aid in determining collection goals and repopulation schemes.