Animal welfare

Genetic analysis and simulation of locomotion and social traits in turkeys

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Abstract

The objective of this study was to quantify the genetic basis of locomotion and social tendency traits in turkeys using long-term automated ArUco tracking and to develop a simulation model capable of reproducing these traits. A total of 296 turkeys housed in an 86 m² pen were monitored from 5 AM to 5 PM for 7 days using 31 overhead cameras. Each bird carried a backpack with ArUco markers, enabling continuous tracking. From the recorded trajectories, four traits were derived: (1) proportion of time spent in locomotion, (2) speed during locomotion (m/s), (3) number of pen mates within 1 m, and (4) density of pen mates ahead within 5 m during locomotion. The proportion of time spent moving ranged from 6.8% to 13.89%, and mean locomotion speed ranged from 0.36 to 0.56 m/s. Birds had, on average, approximately 10 pen mates within 1 m (SD ≈ 0.6). Using an animal model with repeated records and genomic relationships, the four traits showed heritabilities of 0.15*, 0.08, 0.23*, and 0.23*, respectively, where starred values were significantly different from zero (p An agent-based simulation model was then developed to generate movement patterns consistent with these traits. Movement direction was discretized into eight orientations (0°, 45°, 90°, 135°, 180°, 225°, 270°, 315°). At each time step, densities of pen mates at each orientation were computed using a Gaussian blur-based density map. The probability of selecting a movement direction was defined as the sum of random baseline probability (1/8) and a deviation term determined by the individual's social tendency parameter and the relative density of pen mates in that orientation: positive social tendency increased the probability of movement toward denser regions, whereas negative values favored movement toward less dense areas. This mechanism successfully generated variation in the simulated number of nearby pen mates and the density of pen mates in the moving direction, corresponding to traits (3) and (4).In conclusion, locomotion and social tendency traits in turkeys are heritable, repeatable, and can be simulated using the proposed agent-based model. These findings indicate that such traits can be targeted in selection programs and that the simulation framework provides a useful tool for further development of methodology for genetic analysis.

Keywords: 2026

How to Cite:

Wang, Z., Doekes, H., Langenhuizen, P., Visser, B., Mohr, J., Vanderhout, R., de With, P. & Bijma, P., (2026) “Genetic analysis and simulation of locomotion and social traits in turkeys”, World Congress on Genetics Applied to Livestock Production Digital Archive 2026(1): 2286780. doi: https://doi.org/10.31274/wcgalp.24120

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