Article ID: CBB209693099

‘De meest efficiënte kip ter wereld’. De Nederlandse legkippenfokkerij in de twintigste eeuw (2017)

unapi

"'The most efficient chicken in the world’. Breeding for eggs in the Netherlands in the twentieth century" This paper analyses the development of chicken breeding for eggs in the Netherlands in the twentieth century. The Dutch poultry sector was of only marginal significance early in the century, yet after the Second World War it developed into the most industrialised segment of animal husbandry. The introduction of scientific breeding methods played a central role in this, as well as the increasing dominance of specialised commercial breeding companies.While scientists and agricultural engineers developed several innovative approaches to breeding that helped increase egg production significantly, we argue that the methods on which these approaches were based – inbreeding, hybridising, selection and progeny testing – had been used by animal breeders since the eighteenth century. Scientists succeeded in increasing the efficiency of these methods by introducing the quantitative and statistical instruments of quantitative genetics; the new Mendelian theory was of little practical use in this respect. Hybrid breeding methods were also shaped by the commercial interests of breeding companies.In the Netherlands the rise of the poultry industry was slowed down for several decades by the government’s policy to protect the interest of smallholders, yet after the establishment of the EEC this protectionism was dispensed with. As an example of the role of commercial companies we discuss the early history of Hendrix Genetics, a Dutch-based breeding company that is now one of the two multinational enterprises that dominate the breeding market for egg-laying chicken worldwide.

...More
Citation URI
https://data.isiscb.org/isis/citation/CBB209693099/

Similar Citations

Article Jesper Oldenburger; Bert Theunissen; (2015)
Alexander Numan (1780-1852) en de veredeling van de Nederlandse schapenrassen (/isis/citation/CBB753358784/)

Book Bert Theunissen; (2020)
Beauty Or Statistics: Practice and Science in Dutch Livestock Breeding, 1900-2000 (/isis/citation/CBB892989234/)

Article Calvert, Scout; (2013)
Certified Angus, Certified Patriot: Breeding, Bodies, and Pedigree Practices (/isis/citation/CBB001320575/)

Article Reitz, Elizabeth J.; Zierden, Martha A.; (2014)
Wildlife in Urban Charleston, South Carolina, USA (/isis/citation/CBB001450105/)

Book Franklin, Sarah; (2013)
Biological Relatives: IVF, Stem Cells, and the Future of Kinship (/isis/citation/CBB001422164/)

Book Margaret E. Derry; (2022)
Made to Order: The Designing of Animals (/isis/citation/CBB211502361/)

Book Rebecca J. H. Woods; (2017)
The Herds Shot Round the World: Native Breeds and the British Empire, 1800-1900 (/isis/citation/CBB281778458/)

Article Birkhead, T. R.; Balen, S. van; (2008)
Bird-Keeping and the Development of Ornithological Science (/isis/citation/CBB000931220/)

Article Châtelain, Bertrand; (2011)
De l'onocentaure. Étude de mythologie comparée (/isis/citation/CBB001201448/)

Article Freschet, Grégoire T.; östlund, Lars; Kichenin, Emilie; Wardle, David A.; (2014)
Aboveground and Belowground Legacies of Native Sami Land Use on Boreal Forest in Northern Sweden 100 Years after Abandonment (/isis/citation/CBB001421440/)

Authors & Contributors
Theunissen, Bert
Hwang, Kyoryen
Jesper Oldenburger
Gabriel N Rosenberg
Woods, Rebecca J. H.
Wardle, David A.
Concepts
Breeding
Livestock
Zoology
Agriculture
Cattle
Animal husbandry
Time Periods
19th century
20th century
20th century, early
Ancient
20th century, late
18th century
Places
Netherlands
United States
Europe
Great Britain
South Carolina (U.S.)
Edinburgh
Institutions
Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service (United States)
United States. Dept. of Agriculture
Comments

Be the first to comment!

{{ comment.created_by.username }} on {{ comment.created_on | date:'medium' }}

Log in or register to comment