Newcastle disease is a devastating poultry disease that often causes significant economic losses in poultry in the developing countries of Africa, Asia, as well as South and Central America. Velogenic Newcastle disease virus (NDV) outbreaks are associated with high mortalities, which can threaten household livelihoods, especially in the rural areas, and lead to loss of high-quality proteins in the form of meat and eggs, as well as household purchasing power. In this study, we exposed unvaccinated Ghanaian and Tanzanian chickens of six local ecotypes to velogenic NDV strains, measured NDV response traits, sequenced their DNA on a genotyping-by-sequencing platform, and performed variance component analyses. The collected phenotypes included: growth rates (pre- and post-exposure); lesion scores (gross lesion severity) in the trachea, proventriculus, intestine, and cecal tonsils; natural antibody levels; anti-NDV antibody levels at 7 days post exposure (dpe); tear and cloacal viral load at 2, 4, and 6 dpe; and survival time. Heritability estimates were low to moderate, ranging from 0.11 for average lesion scores to 0.36 for pre-exposure growth rate. Heritability estimates for survival time were 0.23 and 0.27 for the Tanzanian and Ghanaian ecotypes, respectively. Similar heritability estimates were observed when data were analyzed either separately or combined for the two countries. Survival time was genetically negatively correlated with lesion scores and with viral load. Results suggested that response to mesogenic or velogenic NDV of these local chicken ecotypes could be improved by selective breeding. Chickens that are more resilient to velogenic NDV can improve household livelihoods in developing countries.
