Abstract In poultry, aggressive pecking and threatening are normal agonistic behavior patterns which serve to establish a social hierarchy. As agonistic behavior is a stressor for animals, its excessive occurrence is undesired in layer flocks. Feather pecking is a longstanding serious problem in layer flocks and its relationship to agonistic behavior is still not clear. Therefore, phenotypic and genomic analyses of the agonistic and feather pecking behavior of two laying hen lines divergently selected for high and low feather pecking were conducted. The hens were phenotyped for the active traits aggressive pecks delivered (APD) 1 , threats delivered (TD) 2 , feather pecks delivered (FPD) 3 and the passive traits aggressive pecks received (APR) 4 , threats received (TR) 5 and feather pecks received (FPR) 6 . Indices were built by subtracting the passive traits from the respective active traits to obtain the aggression index, the threat index, and the feather pecking index. As all three behavior patterns in their excessive manifestations are undesired, the index-traits Activity and Passivity were also defined by combining each the active and passive traits. The results showed that FPD is significantly positive correlated with APD and TD in both lines, but with higher coefficients in the high feather pecking line. The average amount of FPR in both lines is nearly the same and no correlation was found between FPR and FPD, APD or TD in any of the lines. The active traits and the feather pecking index showed medium heritabilities, whereas the heritability was negligibly small for the other traits. GWAS revealed four nominal significant (p ≤ 5*10-5) SNPs for APD on chromosome 6, the same four and three additional SNPs on chromosome 8 for Activity and three SNPs on chromosome 1 for the feather pecking index. It is concluded, that selection on high feather pecking leads to an increase of agonistic behavior. The correlation probably depends on the phase of establishing the social hierarchy in which the hens in a newly formed group are at the time of observation, and might disappear, after a stable ranking is established. The reception of feather pecking is similar in both lines. GWAS revealed that TD, APD, Activity and the feather pecking index seem to be typical quantitative traits with associated regions for the latter three which have slightly greater effects on these traits than other regions in the genome.

中文翻译：

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不同选择用于啄羽的蛋鸡品系中激动相互作用的表型和基因组分析

摘要 在家禽中，攻击性啄食和威胁是正常的对抗行为模式，有助于建立社会等级。由于激动行为是动物的压力源，因此在蛋鸡群中不希望出现这种行为。啄羽是蛋鸡群长期存在的严重问题，其与争斗行为的关系仍不清楚。因此，对高低啄羽的两种蛋鸡品系的激动和啄羽行为进行了表型和基因组分析。母鸡的表型为主动性状 攻击性啄食 (APD) 1 、威胁送出 (TD) 2 、羽毛送出 (FPD) 3 和被动性状攻击性啄食 (APR) 4 、受到威胁 (TR) 5 和羽毛收到的啄食 (FPR) 6 . 通过从各自的主动性状中减去被动性状来构建指数，以获得攻击性指数、威胁指数和啄羽指数。由于过度表现的所有三种行为模式都是不受欢迎的，因此还通过结合主动和被动特征来定义指标特征主动性和被动性。结果表明，FPD与APD和TD在两个品系中均呈显着正相关，但在高啄羽品系中系数较高。两条品系中 FPR 的平均量几乎相同，并且在任何品系中均未发现 FPR 与 FPD、APD 或 TD 之间存在相关性。活跃性状和啄羽指数显示出中等遗传力，而其他性状的遗传力小到可以忽略不计。GWAS 揭示了 6 号染色体上 APD 的四个名义上显着的 (p ≤ 5*10-5) SNP，8 号染色体上相同的四个和三个额外的 SNP 用于活性，以及​​ 1 号染色体上的三个 SNP 用于啄羽指数。得出的结论是，对高啄羽的选择会导致激动行为的增加。这种相关性可能取决于建立社会等级的阶段，新组中的母鸡在观察时所处的社会等级可能会在建立稳定的等级后消失。两行对啄羽的反应相似。GWAS 揭示 TD、APD、活性和啄羽指数似乎是典型的数量性状，后三者的相关区域对这些性状的影响略大于基因组中的其他区域。8 号染色体上的 4 个和 3 个额外的 SNP 用于活性，1 号染色体上的三个 SNP 用于啄羽指数。得出的结论是，对高啄羽的选择会导致激动行为的增加。这种相关性可能取决于建立社会等级的阶段，新组中的母鸡在观察时所处的社会等级可能会在建立稳定的等级后消失。两行对啄羽的反应相似。GWAS 揭示 TD、APD、活性和啄羽指数似乎是典型的数量性状，后三者的相关区域对这些性状的影响略大于基因组中的其他区域。8 号染色体上的 4 个和 3 个额外的 SNP 用于活性，1 号染色体上的三个 SNP 用于啄羽指数。得出的结论是，对高啄羽的选择会导致激动行为的增加。这种相关性可能取决于建立社会等级的阶段，新组中的母鸡在观察时所处的社会等级可能会在建立稳定的等级后消失。两行对啄羽的反应相似。GWAS 揭示 TD、APD、活性和啄羽指数似乎是典型的数量性状，后三者的相关区域对这些性状的影响略大于基因组中的其他区域。