Photo: Reuters
A new genetically altered chicken has been hailed as the 'future of mass farming'.
The featherless chicken was created to allow for mass poultry farming in warm locales such as the Middle East and for cost efficiency.
The genetic mutation also allows the chicken to grow faster, to be leaner, and to be environmentally friendlier.
But some people have raised objections to this 'revolutionary' bird. In fact featherless chicken in general do not fare as well, and are host to more parasites because of their featherless condition. They also would have to be kept warm in latitudes where the temperatures are colder.
That also means that the birds require the use of expensive resources like water and electricity in locales where such resources are already scarce.
The breed was obtained by matching a bird that had a naked neck and a breed of broiler chickens already developed for mass farming. The problem is that broiler chickens have been bred to develop quicker, but they generate heat so that in certain places farmers would have to employ air conditioning to keep cooler, and heating in cooler places to keep the temperatures at 20 C, the optimal temperature for their development.
Of course one of the benefits of featherless chickens is the time saved in not having to pluck the chicken.
Source: myscienceacademy/ 3.5.13
No comments:
Post a Comment