Heterochronic events in the ontogeny of Columba livia, Coturnix coturnix and Gallus gallus domesticus

OLEA, GB.; HERNANDO, AB.; LOMBARDO, DM.

REVISTA COLOMBIANA DE CIENCIAS PECUARIAS

UNIV ANTIOQUIA

Año: 2016 vol. 29 p. 274 - 282

0120-0690

Background: a series of events take place in a precise spatial and temporal context during the development of any organism. Typically, certain ontogenetic processes are consistent with the proper completion of previous events.Objective: to identify possible heterochronic events that may relate to altricial and precocious development patterns. Methods: we analyzed the ontogeny of three species of birds with two different development models: Columbalivia (semialtricial 2), Coturnix coturnix, and Gallus gallus domesticus (precocial 2). The starts and endings of thirteen morphological events were compared, from hour 16 of incubation to the time of hatching. Results: whileno differences in the sequence of developmental events were found, the events of the maturation stage in the altricial kind started earlier compared to the precocial species. Ontogenetic acceleration events in C. livia and C. coturnixexplain how these species reach a level of morphological development similar to that of G. gallus domesticus, but with shorter incubation period. Conclusion: the results provide information not considered in the literature of thespecialty about heterochronic events in early developmental stages of poultry.Keywords: altricial, birds, embryonic development, postnatal growth patterns, precocial.