Review Reports

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

The presented paper is very interesting and valuable. Authors genotyped 97 birds belonging to 4 breeds (including Rustipollos poultry) by use of 29 microsatellite markers, supported by genotypes data from earlier projects/papers. They applied proper laboratory methods and complexed bioinformatics/population analysis tools.

I think the paper is suitable for publish in Poultry, however needs small corrections/explanations (see comments below).

·       Line 39 - replace the sentence  by "The Rustipollos poultry population was created through directed crosses between a commercial meat line and a local population belonging to non-specific breeds but phenotypically assimilated to Creole (breeds? - see the comment to Line 266)."

·       Line 67 - "The Rustipollos poultry population was created in the 2001 at the Poultry Division of  the Faculty of Veterinary Sciences of Paraguay, in response to the demand from small producers to engage in extensive or semi-extensive poultry farming."

After 23 years of population creation, authors could explain if this demand is met i.e. what values of performance traits Rustipollos poultry is characterized.

·       locus, loci - should be italicized in the whole text

·       Line 96 - change "relatedness" into "relation, relationship"

·       Table 1 - add lines between Spain and USA breeds origin and put names of country separately like in case of Brazil

·       Line 136 - change "Twentynine" into "Twenty-nine"

·       Creole vs creole - authors should decide if use capitals or small letters in whole text

·       Line 266 - I do not understand - LPE, PEL and CDC are different Creole breeds? Or Creole is breed and LPE, PEL and CDC are different populations? What does "Creole" mean in this context?

Author Response

Dear Reviewer, we are very grateful for your positive feedback on our work.

Hereby, please find detailed responses to the requested changes (highlighted in the main text with red font) to go ahead with the review process.

Comments 1: Line 39 - replace the sentence by "The Rustipollos poultry population was created through directed crosses between a commercial meat line and a local population belonging to non-specific breeds but phenotypically assimilated to Creole (breeds? - see the comment to Line 266)."

Response 1: Following the reviewer’s suggestion, we modified the sentence as follow:

Lines 39-41: The Rustipollos was created through directed crosses between a commercial meat line and a local population belonging to not non-specific breeds but phenotypically assimilated to Creole breeds.

Comments 2: Line 67 - "The Rustipollos poultry population was created in the 2001 at the Poultry Division of the Faculty of Veterinary Sciences of Paraguay, in response to the demand from small producers to engage in extensive or semi-extensive poultry farming."

After 23 years of population creation, authors could explain if this demand is met i.e. what values of performance traits Rustipollos poultry is characterized.

Response 2: Currently, there is no publicly available data from official surveys on the productive performance of Rustipollos chickens. However, this breed has the potential to be a valuable economic resource for rural communities, bypassing the need for intermediary international companies. By combining the results of this study with data on productive and reproductive performance, breeding programs and selection strategies will be supported. This will ensure the effective dissemination of these important genetic resources throughout Paraguay.

Comments 3: locus, loci - should be italicized in the whole text

Response 3: Following the reviewer's suggestion, we have italicized "locus" and "loci" throughout the text.

Comments 4: Line 96 - change "relatedness" into "relation, relationship"

Response 4: Following the reviewer's suggestion, we modified the sentence as follow:

Lines 96-98: More specifically, the genetic diversity and population structure of Rustipollos, the ge-netic relationship between the studied population and some neighboring and worldwide breeds were determinated.

Comments 5: Table 1 - add lines between Spain and USA breeds origin and put names of country separately like in case of Brazil

Response 5: We have revised Table 1 in accordance with the reviewer's suggestions.

Comments 6: Line 136 - change "Twentynine" into "Twenty-nine"

Response 6: Agree. We have, accordingly, done this point.

Comments 7: Creole vs creole - authors should decide if use capitals or small letters in whole text

Response 7: In accordance with the reviewer's recommendation, we have capitalized the term "Creole" throughout the manuscript.

Comments 8: Line 266 - I do not understand - LPE, PEL and CDC are different Creole breeds? Or Creole is breed and LPE, PEL and CDC are different populations? What does "Creole" mean in this context?

Response 8: The word "Creole" refers to "mixed breeds" and is used to describe something local or very typical of a particular Latin American region. The origin of Creole chickens in the Americas remains a topic of debate. The main theory suggests that modern Creole chickens are descended from European chickens brought during the 15th-century Spanish colonization. However, some researchers propose that chickens were already present in pre-Columbian civilizations. The extreme phenotypic variability observed in Creole chicken populations today suggests they are likely the result of multiple interbreeding events, including the recent introduction of commercial breeds. Therefore LPE, PEL and CDC are to be considered different Creole breeds/populations.

Reviewer 2 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

Understanding the genetic variation and structure of the Rustipollos chicken synthetic population locally adapted to Paraguay: opportunities for a sustainable chicken productivity

Dear authors, the paper deals with an interesting topic and presents a good set of data and result. This study has potential to be of interest to a wider audience. The article it is well written but some adjusted need to be done.

Page3 line 117: What is the total number of individuals included belonging to the seventeen potentially related chicken breeds/populations?

Page3 line 126: Are all individuals analyzed in the study are presented in table 1? I believe it is interesting to include another line in the table with the name “Total” and in the “Sample size” column to include the total number of individuals presented in the table. Or write in the material and methods part how many individuals belonging to the seventeen breeds/populations were added to the analyses.

Author Response

Dear Reviewer,

we are very grateful for your positive feedback on our work.

Hereby, please find detailed responses to the requested changes (highlighted in the main text with red font) to go ahead with the review process.

Comments 1: Page 3 line 117: What is the total number of individuals included belonging to the seventeen potentially related chicken breeds/populations?

Response 1: We appreciate the reviewer's suggestion. Table 1 has been modified accordingly. Please refer to the answer to the second question below.

Comments 2: Page 3 line 126: Are all individuals analyzed in the study are presented in table 1? I believe it is interesting to include another line in the table with the name “Total” and in the “Sample size” column to include the total number of individuals presented in the table. Or write in the material and methods part how many individuals belonging to the seventeen breeds/populations were added to the analyses.

Response 2: Following the reviewer's suggestion, we have added two rows to the Table 1: one showing the total number of individuals from the 18 previously genotyped populations that were added to the analysis, and one showing the total number of individuals sampled for the study. We apologize for a previous error. The number of populations potentially related to Rustipollos are 21, consisting of 18 previously genotyped breeds/populations and 3 additional breeds/populations sampled specifically for the study. We have also added the number of individuals from the 18 previously genotyped populations to the Materials and Methods section. Table 1 has been adjusted according to the reviewers' suggestions.