Abstract
Parallel with the development of intensive poultry production, traditional Hungarian poultry stock breeding gradually disappeared, while maintenance and conservation of old breeds - under the supervision of the National Institute for Agricultural Quality Control and breeding NGOs - became the task of conservationists. Expansion of intensive farming threatens traditional poultry breeds all over the world much more than other domestic species. Gene conservation can be complete if utilization of the breeds becomes a reality. For this purpose a consortium of chicken gene bank breeders, organized by the breeding association (an NGO) decided to complete a project proposal containing four main tasks: 1. characterize all Hungarian chicken breeds and varieties of gene banks and describe their production characteristics in detail, 2. and 3. study quality characteristics of products, including meat and eggs of different breeds and produced at different ages of breeders, and 4. study the use and breeding characteristics of the breeds in ecological type production. All R&D included in this project proposal is intended to conserve old traditional Hungarian chicken breeds for the future.
Hungary