Animal Molecular Breeding 2024, Vol.14, No.1, 62-71 http://animalscipublisher.com/index.php/amb 64 diseases not only cause harm to individual poultry, but may also lead to a decrease in the production efficiency of the entire breeding group, causing huge economic losses to the poultry breeding industry. Therefore, improving the disease resistance of poultry and preventing the occurrence of diseases through vaccination and improving the breeding environment are the keys to improving the sustainable development of the poultry industry. 1.3 Feed and nutritional pressure High-quality feed and balanced nutrition are the basis for the healthy growth of poultry. However, in the actual breeding process, poultry often face problems of poor feed quality and insufficient nutrition. The imbalance of nutritional elements in feed will directly affect the growth and development of poultry, leading to growth retardation, reduced immunity, reduced production performance and other problems. Especially for high-yielding poultry breeds, nutritional deficiencies will seriously affect their egg production rate and egg quality. The sustainability of feed resources is also an important consideration, as rising feed production costs and limited resources pose challenges to the long-term development of the poultry industry. Scientifically formulating feeds to ensure balanced nutritional intake by poultry, as well as researching and developing new feed resources, are important strategies to improve poultry production efficiency and cope with environmental pressures (Barszcz et al., 2024). Faced with extreme temperature changes, disease pressure, and feed and nutritional pressures, the poultry industry needs to take effective management and technical measures to improve poultry adaptability and performance. Through the research and application of advanced genetic improvement technologies, such as genome-wide association studies (GWAS), the key genetic factors for poultry to cope with various environmental stresses can be identified, and then through genetic selection and breeding strategies, healthier and more adaptable birds can be cultivated. Poultry breeds to meet future challenges. 2 GWAS Technology Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) is a powerful scientific tool that has been widely used in medicine, genetics, and agricultural sciences in recent years. Especially in the field of poultry genetic research, GWAS technology has become a key means to explore and understand how poultry genetically adapt to various environmental stresses. 2.1 Basic principles of GWAS The core principle of GWAS is to identify genetic markers associated with specific traits by comparing the genomes of different individuals. The process begins by collecting genetic information from large numbers of individuals, often involving hundreds, thousands or even tens of thousands of samples. The researchers used high-throughput sequencing technology to sequence the whole-genome DNA of these samples, and then looked for single-nucleotide polypeptides that appeared frequently in individuals showing specific traits, such as poultry that are better adapted to specific environmental stresses. Physics (SNPs) (Uffelmann et al., 2021). In this way, GWAS can reveal which genetic variants are associated with adaptive traits in poultry. 2.2 Identify key genetic markers In the study of poultry adaptability, the application of GWAS is extremely important. For example, researchers can use GWAS to identify genetic variants that make poultry better able to withstand heat stress. By comparing the genomes of individuals with high survival rates in high-temperature environments to those of normal individuals, scientists can find specific SNPs associated with heat tolerance. This will not only help to understand the genetic mechanisms of poultry coping with high temperatures, but also guide future breeding programs to select individuals with better genetic adaptability to heat stress for breeding. The same approach has also been used to identify genetic markers that can improve poultry disease resistance, growth efficiency, meat and egg quality and other traits. Through GWAS analysis, the scientific research team successfully identified some genetic loci related to strong immunity in poultry, which is of great significance for cultivating poultry breeds with stronger disease resistance.
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