The Council of Agriculture’s Livestock Research Institute yesterday unveiled a new chicken breed it has developed that it said has softer meat and increased egg production.
The black velvet silkie, which took the institute 12 years to develop, is “of the highest quality,” it said at an event in Tainan to promote its products.
Compared with other Taiwanese silkie breeds, which are black, the black velvet silkie is dark gray and smaller, the institute said.
Photo courtesy of the Council of Agriculture’s Livestock Research Institute
Despite being smaller, it has tender meat and lays more than twice as many eggs as other Taiwanese silkies, it said.
The development of the new breed took 11 generations of careful selection, with all of the large chickens removed, said researcher Liou Hsiao-lung (劉曉龍), who took part in the project.
The result is a bird with very tender meat with a sweet taste, Liou said.
The breed also has a higher egg production rate, he said, adding that a 40-week-old black velvet silkie hen can lay as many as 102 eggs, compared with an average of 44 for other Taiwanese silkie breeds.
The black velvet silkie’s eggs are more nutritious than those from other Taiwanese silkie breeds, with higher levels of lecithin, docosahexaenoic acid, folate and iron, he said.
The institute also presented other products it has developed, including a probiotic supplement made with antler extracts and calcium supplements made from deer bones.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by