Improving the Adaptability of Animals by Selection - Genetics and the Behavior of Domestic Animals - page 288

Chapter 8
Improving the Adaptability
of Animals by Selection
Jean Michel Faure and Andrew D. Mills
Station de Recherches Avicoles, INRA de Tours, Novzilly, France
The work of Faure and Mills was groundbreaking research, which was pub-
lished in the first edition of our topic. This is a classic paper in behavioral
genetics that everyone in the field should read so we decided to reproduce
the original chapter in the new edition. By choosing two easy-to-use behav-
ioral tests, they created four separate genetic lines of quail. Since this chapter
was published in 1998, more recent research with these genetic lines has
shown that the tonic immobility test does not measure all types of fear and
that the social reinstatement trait is linked to other traits. At the end of this
chapter, we have a list of new papers that have conducted further research
on these genetic lines which show that motivational systems are complex.
INTRODUCTION
Animal welfare is a major issue in Europe. One method frequently used for
solving animal welfare problems is to adapt the environment to fit the behav-
ioral needs of the animals. However, environmental modifications are costly
because economic factors are presently the predominant determinants of the
design of housing systems. Another approach for improving animal welfare
is to modify the animals so they are better adapted to intensive husbandry.
This can be accomplished by pharmacological, surgical, or genetic methods
In this chapter, the use of genetic selection to improve adaptability to intensive
rearing systems is outlined and discussed.
In Japanese quail, two types of behavior were subjected to genetic selec-
tion: social reinstatement (the tendency to rejoin flockmates) and fearfulness.
These two traits interact and determine how a bird may behave in different
situations. Information on the inheritance of behavioral traits in quail may
provide insights into the inheritance of these traits in other species. Before we
discuss genetic selection, we will briefly summarize nongenetic approaches to
improving welfare.