190 • Impacts of Applied Genetics— Micro-Organisms, Plants, and Animals 
lialt ot the turkeys are inseminated with diluted 
semen. 
lh'eser\ation of poultry semen by freezing is 
now pi'acticed by several primary breeders. Al- 
though freezing chicken semen causes it to lose 
some potency, the practice allows increased ge- 
netic advancement and the distribution of ge- 
netic material worldwide. 
The amount of genetic variation available for 
breeding stock is not expected to diminish in the 
near future. C^eilings for certain traits will even- 
tually he reached, but certainly not in the 
1980's. Advances in breeding laying chickens 
will be less dramatic than in the past, but efforts 
will continue to develop new genetic lines and 
to improve reserve lines and crosses to meet fu- 
ture needs. 
The growth rate of broilers will continue to 
increase at 4 percent a year, which suggests 
that birds will be reaching 4.4 lb in 5 weeks by 
the 1990’s. Breeding for stress resistance will be 
increasingly important, not only because of the 
increased use of intensive production systems, 
hut also to meet the physiological stresses re- 
sulting from faster growth and greater weight. 
AI will assume increasing impoi'tance. Recent 
advances in procedures for long-term freezing 
of chicken semen will allow breeders to extend 
the use of outstanding sires. The sale of frozen 
seman may eventually substitute, in part, for 
the sale of breeder males. 
Dwarf broiler breedei's will also assume in- 
creasing importance o\er the new few years. 
The dwarf breeder female is approximately 25- 
percent smaller than the standard female, and 
even though the dwarf’s egg is smaller and the 
progeny’s grou'th rate slightly less than that of 
the standard broiler, the lower cost of produc- 
ing broiler chicks from the dwarf breeder more 
than offsets the slight loss in their grow th rate. 
Dwarf layers and the dwarf brecnler Ikmis could 
reduce production costs by 20 peix'ent and 2 
percent, respecti\ely. 
There is some inter(;st among poultry breed- 
ers in cloning, gene transfer, and sex conti'ol 
but progress toward succ(?s.sful tc'chnologies is 
slow. 
Issue and Options for Agriculture — Animals 
ISSUE: Should the United States in- 
crease support for programs in 
applied genetics for animals and 
animal products? 
Advocates of a strong governmental role in 
support of agricultural research and develop- 
ment (R&D) have traditionally referred to the 
small size of the production unit: U.S. farms are 
too small to support R&D activities. Throughout 
this century a complicated and extensive net- 
work of Federal, State, and local agricultural 
support agencies has been developed to assist 
the farmer in applying the new knowledge pro- 
duced by research institutions. This private/ 
public sector cooperative network has pro- 
duced an abundant supply of food and fiber, 
sometimes in excess of domestic demand. Social- 
ly oriented policies have been adopted to soften 
the impacts of new technology and to rescue the 
marginally efficient farmer from bankruptcy. 
Current projections of U.S. and world popula- 
tion growth show incix'asing d(>mand lor all 
food products. Other piH'dictable trends with 
implications for agricultural lt(Si.D, include: 
• growth in inconu^ for some populations, 
which will probably inci-ease the demand 
for sources of meat piotein; 
• increasing compcMition among \arious 
sources of protein for the consuiin*rs 
dollar; 
• increasing awareness of nutrition issiu’s 
among U.S. consumers: 
• increasing com[)(Uition foi' prime agricul- 
tural land among agricultural, urban, .md 
industrial intcMcsts: 
• increasing demand for I .S loud and tibcr 
