Dual-purpose chickens as an alternative to broiler and layer genotypes: Growth performance, carcass characteristics, and meat quality

Increasing social awareness regarding animal welfare has led to a reassessment of traditional practices such as the culling of male layer chicks in the egg industry. Several European countries have banned this practice due to ethical concerns. Alternative methods, such as determining and sorting eggs containing male layer chicks during the incubation period and evaluating male layer chicks for meat production are being developed to solve this problem. The fact that the male chicks of existing commercial layer strains have very inadequate meat yield characteristics is seen as the most important obstacle to evaluating these chicks for meat production. The development of dual-purpose genotypes, where females are used for egg production and males for meat production, stands out as an alternative to solve this problem. In this review, the performance, carcass, and breast meat characteristics of dual-purpose genotypes were examined in comparison with other chicken meat sources and the potential of these genotypes in chicken meat production was discussed. Furthermore, the review examines the interactions between alternative rearing systems, dietary interventions, and genotype, and their effects on feed efficiency, growth performance, welfare, and meat quality characteristics.