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Hubbard and Metamorphix Announce Alliance To Produce Predictive Markers For Broiler Breeding

ATLANTA - Hubbard S.A.S. and MetaMorphix, Inc. announced today the alliance to jointly develop a set of genomic markers to maximize the genetic progress of Hubbard's products.

Hubbard is a world leader in the development and marketing of improved broiler breeding stock. Hubbard specializes in state-of-the-art methods (both traditional and new technologies) of improving the breeding of their pure lines for broilers, in order to respond to current and future needs of the industry.

Hubbard a leader in broiler breeding, a company of Group Grimaud La Corbière, and MetaMorphix, a leader in development of genomic selection tools, will use MetaMorphix's GENIUS - Whole Genome System™ to develop predictive genetic markers for desired broiler performance traits. Under the agreement, MetaMorphix will be entitled to receive a royalty on revenues generated from the new breeds.

"The use of GENIUS - Whole Genome System™ will allow Hubbard to more accurately understand the natural variability expressed at the DNA-level for desirable traits in their pedigree lines.

Hubbard geneticists will be able to quickly and accurately identify associations of predictive genetic markers with economically important traits, including health, welfare, meat quality, breeder and broiler traits", says Dr. Stephane Duthoit, CEO of Hubbard.

Hubbard and Metamorphix signing alliance agreement.

"In the future the poultry industry will benefit from the application of this technology via the development of more desirable products for the avian industry, and accelerate Hubbard's ability to bring these improvements to the marketplace."

Commenting on the agreement, Edwin Quattlebaum, President and CEO of MetaMorphix, said, "We are especially pleased to be partnering with Hubbard in developing predictive markers, as they are a leading poultry breeder which has a long-standing history of being an innovator in providing poultry solutions that focus on performance, health and well-being of breeding stock.

"This is a significant milestone for MetaMorphix as we now have commercial agreements with industry leaders for our genomic technology in all three major livestock species, including beef (Cargill), swine (Monsanto) and chicken (Hubbard). In addition to further validating our genomic technology, we look forward to a future royalty stream under this agreement" he added.

ThePoultrySite News Desk

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