Scientific development was not limited to electronic, medical and life aspects. For many years, science went to develop animal genes with special features to keep pace with the population increase in the world, climate and economic changes.
“One of the signs of this is selective hybridization of animals in different ways for thousands of years, and the animals that are now relied on in food production have been selectively to achieve high productivity,” says Dennis Heidon, a researcher at the Roslin Institute and the Royal School (Dick) Veterinary Studies at Edinburgh University in statements to Al Jazeera Net.
While the methods of education are used to develop certain animal strains, where educators choose the largest and healthier animals for mating for the production of new generations, scientists produced years ago a strain that raised surprise and encouragement from some, and anger from others, because scientists manipulate chicken genetically to produce without feathers, arguing that he refine his shoulders and limits the speed of his growth.
Amended chicken controversy
This unique type is known as “bald or naked chicken”, and it was mainly designed with the aim of reducing the costs and complications associated with the breeding of chicken, that is, to be an economic and effective alternative to the traditional chicken that abounds in our farms and restaurants.
Scientifically, this new type appears to be an ordinary chicken, except that it is without feathers, and genetic scientists spent a long time changing the structure of the chicken chicken chicken toxicity by crossing it with less feathers.
“The chickens have originated completely feathers, or that lack some feathers (bare neck chicken), automatically with people raising the chicken in the past,” says Heidon.
Heidon, who participated in studies A precedent around feathered chicken “The feature of partial or full feathers can be introduced into the current chicken breeds specialized in eggs or meat production through standard hybridization.”
But opponents of this new type accused scientists of producing a genetically modified chicken, but scientists deny these accusations, and insist that the new chicken is a natural strain, and that they did not make any genetic amendment that includes a direct amendment of genes through genetic liberation, but the genes were changed here through artificial retirement.
Why do you forbid her feathers?
Researchers who support this strain highlight many of the advantages of developed chicken compared to its feathers counterpart, and insist as a scientific achievement that will help in increasing production significantly.
They argue that bald chicken is characterized by its high temperatures, and adapts to live in a hot climate, which eliminates the need for climatic equipment such as cooling systems in hot regions, especially in African and desert countries where traditional strains suffer, and thus will save educators costs of expensive cooling systems.
The scientists who raised this new type justify that the lack of feathers will help its growth faster and in greater sizes, because it provides the energy that chicken feathers consumes, which reduces its need for food and feed to produce the same amount of meat produced by ordinary chicken, which makes it more efficient in converting feed into meat.
“Given the large size of the fattening chicken (meat -producing chicken) and the speed of its growth, it is vulnerable to thermal stress, and this harms its luxury and reduces its agricultural productivity,” says Heidon.
According to his saying, then Studies It was made on chicken -free chickens partially or completely shows that reducing feathers coverage reduces their ability to heat stress already, which improves the conditions of their life and productivity in hot conditions, and reduces the amount of feathers waste produced by birds after treatment.
Supporters of this strain assert that they are completely safe to eat, and do not cause any health risks to humans, and they carry the same properties of ordinary chicken, in terms of egg production and taste of meat, and contain the same nutritional value. Moreover, it grows faster than traditional strains, and its flesh is less fat, which is good for those who monitor their calories consumption.
Although chicken without feathers seems terrifying, it caught the attention of poultry educators around the world, due to the lack of the usual feathers that reduce production and increase costs in processing facilities, and water pollution with feathers and fats.
Birds without protection
The project denies the importance of all of this, and they argue that these feathered chickens face greater challenges than their feathers.
Critics say this selective hybridization produces birds that do not protect their subtle skin from the risk of parasites, mosquitoes and sunburn.
According to the activist in the field of farm animal care and limiting meat consumption, Joyce de Silva of the “Mercy in Global Agriculture”, the absence of feathers reduces chicken resistance to many diseases, some of which may be transmitted through their meat to humans, and she adds in her interview with Al Jazeera Net, “The birds will be constantly exposed to bacterial or fungal infections through skin injuries.”
Despite the highlight of many advantages, Hedon acknowledges that these feathers are already facing challenges that affect their survival and safety, and it is unlikely to adapt to cold climates because of their lack of thermal insulation, making them less suitable for regions such as Scandinavian or Russia.
Some have found another serious defect related to the multiplication of this new type of chicken. According to de Silva, “the absence of feathers causes inconvenience during mating.”
“Doubles often face feathers during the mating rituals, which usually include flavoring the wings and feathers, which are absent from this strain,” she added.
And she believes that “this not only reduces its ability to attract females, but also leads to physical injuries during mating, and the rooster may hurt the chicken with its nails and beak because there are no feathers on its head and neck.”
This may be very dangerous to the chicken, because the other birds when you see an infected chicken, start with the blade of their feathers. This means that the chicken should be isolated, treated or executed.
Until now, the breeders themselves have to cut two fingers of the roosters frequently to prevent it from harming the chicken. In the case of the new strain, scratches will remain on the skin of the chicken, while the rooster will not find what he holds in its beak.
But despite these defects, the experiments are still continuing, as genetic scientists continue to experience naked chicken, and they weight and measuring newly reproductive chickens, comparing them with traditional strains, and monitoring their numbers, feeding and growing closely, especially since the chicken has always been a model for studying growth due to its size and ease of observation in the egg.
The dilemma of proliferation
A number of consumers look at chicken without feathers with an eye of strangeness, question and skepticism, and the scene of living birds may be disturbing to some, and those who are seen may think that a disease has affected him or suffers from the problem of what she has suffered, something that would hinder its marketing with many countries.
While those who tasted feathered chicken meat that they could not differentiate between the taste of ordinary chicken, as long as they did not see these horrific creatures alive, which themselves are surprised by their shape.
In general, despite the use of animal raising methods to develop certain animal strains, their acceptance of consumers is still weak.
This frequency often stems from concerns about the use of hormones and the possible health effects of genetically modified animals, and people also worry about the moral effects of changing nature in these root methods.
The opinion of this people would hinder the marketing of the developed chicken, as several countries have moved the experiment, but they remained limited, and their way did not make their way commercially, perhaps because the chicken view suggests a problem more than it suggests a solution.