Research on blood flow improvement feed with suppressive effect on Wooden Breast Syndrome in broilers

2020 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 18K05941
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Review Section: Basic Section 42010:Animal production science-related
• Research Institution: Rakuno Gakuen University
• Principal Investigator: Watanabe Takafumi 酪農学園大学, 獣医学群, 准教授 (50598216)
• Project Period (FY): 2018-04-01 – 2021-03-31
• Keywords: ブロイラー / 異常胸肉 / 酸化ストレス / マイトファジー

Outline of Final Research Achievements

The purpose of this study is to elucidate the mechanism of development of "wooden breast syndrome (WBS)" which is abnormal enlargement and hardening of breast meat in broilers, and to develop a new diet for stable production of normal breast meat. The development of abnormal breast meat was attributed to the the collapse of myofibers and fibrosis due to the disruption of physiological mitophagy, which is a mechanism to respond to oxidative stress associated with ischemia caused by rapid breast meat development. Besides, we found that there was a negative correlation between the protein content of the diet in the early stages of rearing and the incidence of WBS. Although we were not able to elucidate the relationship between the diet and the improvement of blood flow to the breast meat, we obtained results that will lead to the development of rearing methods to suppress the onset of the disease by examining the composition of the diet and the timing of administration.

Free Research Field

獣医学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

2015年頃から世界各国の養鶏業界での重要案件となり、現時点でも有効な解決策の提案に至っていないブロイラーの「異常胸肉」の発症は胸肉の生理的マイトファジーの破綻から始まることを本研究により世界で最初に解明した。この成果は酸化ストレスを中心に解析を進めている世界中の研究グループに新たな視点を加えることとなり、今後は生理的マイトファジーを制御する飼育方法および飼料開発に各国の研究グループが取り組むことを期待する。申請者は飼料中の蛋白質含有量に解決の糸口があることも本研究成果として提案している。これらの成果は投薬に頼らない良質なブロイラーの胸肉の安定的な産出の応用研究へ繋がることを強く期待している。