Microsatellite markers and their association with body weight and the egg production traits in two genetic groups of chicken.

Abstract

The present study was conducted on Egyptian native breed (Dandarawi) and commercial laying hens (White- W36 of Hy-line) to estimate variability of microsatellites and their association with egg production traits. Five microsatellite loci were selected based on published chicken genome database. All markers used are linked to egg production traits, four markers; ADL273, MCW241, MCW246 and MCW258 are located on Z chromosome linkage group, whilst, the remainder marker (ADL188) is located on chromosome one linkage group. Four located on Z chromosome and one located chromosome 1 was explored and the association study was performed employing Tandem Repeat Analyzer. It could be observed that the White Hy-line (W-36) hens reached significantly earliest sexual maturation than that of Dandarawi breed. The Hy-line strain significantly increase haugh units compared to local breed and showed that slightly increase in yolk index to Hy-line strain compared to native breed. The specific gravity of Dandarawi hens had higher value than the standard strain White Hy-line (W-36). It could be noticed that the Dandarawi breed were significantly higher for (shell strength, shell thickness and shell percentage) traits compared to Hy-line strain. The present results indicated that the White Hy-line (W-36) strain had significantly better egg production parameters and feed conversion ratio compared to Dandarawi native breed. Inversely, the native breed had better eggshell quality measurements compared to Hy-line hens. The allele frequencies for ADL188 microsatellite were varied for Dandarawi and Hy-line groups, respectively. The last result indicated that the ADL188 microsatellite was to be association with haugh units. Key words: Microsatellite markers, native breed (Dandarawi) and (White- W36 of Hy-line) chickens