Genetic characterization of Thai indigenous chickens compared with commercial lines

Abstract

A total of 210 chicken samples, from seven strains, were genotyped using 20 microsatellite loci of which 16 are recommended by the Food and Agriculture Organization. The genetic variability and divergence of four Thai indigenous strains and three commercial lines were assessed to generate baseline information for conservation, promotion, and make sustainable utilization of indigenous chicken resources in Thailand. A total of 227 alleles were distributed ranging from six (MCW 111) to 16 (MCW 183 and LEI 166) alleles per locus. The highest (0.81) and lowest (0.77) average of expected heterozygosities were observed in indigenous chicken (Dang) and commercial layer (Isa Brown), respectively. All microsatellite loci were in the Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium, except for MCW111 and ADL372 in the Isa Brown line. The subpopulation division coefficient (F(ST)) was strong with the value of 0.183 indicating the genetic differentiation among the studied groups. Four genetic clusters were detected: the first group consisted of layers (Isa Brown and White Leghorn); the second group was broiler; the third group consisted of non-black feather indigenous chicken (Chee, Dang, and Leung Hang Khoa); and the fourth group was black feather indigenous chicken (Pradu Hang Dam). The results of this study also suggested that Pradu Hang Dam is suitable to be developed as a meat type chicken due to lower genetic distance between Pradu Hang Dam and broiler.

Genetic characterization of Red Junglefowl (Gallus gallus), Thai indigenous chicken (Gallus domesticus), and two commercial lines using selective functional genes compared to microsatellite markers

“…It showed that trees from functional genes ( Figure 1A) and microsatellites ( Figure 1B) for five fowl populations can be clustered into three groups: CC was split into two groups, egg type (WL) and meat type (BR), while PD represented the same group as RJF. This result is in agreement with functional (calpain gene) polymorphisms of Southeast Asian native chickens (Okumura et al, 2006), and 20 microsatellites that showed that indigenous chickens had spilt from CC (Dorji et al, 2011). A similar conclusion was drawn for Rhode Island Red and Northeast Ethiopian native chickens (Hassen et al, 2009).…”

“…H E for all functional gene loci was not over than 0.5 because the maximum heterozygosity at a biallelic locus cannot exceed 0.5 (Falconer and Mackay, 1996). The H E for all microsatellite loci in Gallus spp was greater than 0.5, which was in agreement with Dorji et al (2011). (Table 3) may lead to positive assortment or a situation of high homozygosity.…”

Insulin-like growth factor I gene polymorphism associated with growth and carcass traits in Thai synthetic chickens

“…These chickens were developed from four generations of inter se mating between Thai native chickens, known as Chee (sire line) (Dorji et al, 2011), crossed with exotic commercial layers (dam line). Breeding was conducted at the Research and Development Network Center for Animal Breeding (Native Chicken), Khon Kaen University, Thailand.…”

Population structure of four Thai indigenous chicken breeds

“…The meat quality of these indigenous chickens has a unique taste with favorable toughness and hence, offering a low cholesterol and fat meat product [10]. Although there were several attempts to characterize these chickens using their physical properties and the successive proteomic profiling of the meat [9,11-13], only few research efforts have undertaken a genetic characterization of these indigenous chickens [4,14-17]. Up to the present, the genetic structure of Thai indigenous chickens remains unclear.…”

“…Microsatellite markers of chickens have previously been reported [5,6,14,15,18-20]. However, the limited number of these microsatellites may not capture the underlying genetic differences among closely related breeds.…”