Evaluation and development of a DNA fingerprint marker system for analyzing fatness and juvenile growth traits in chickens

Investigations were conducted in a backcross (BC1) broiler population to evaluate the efficacy of multi-locus DNA fingerprints (DFP) generated from various probe-enzyme combinations, in marker-quantitative trait association analysis. Five restriction enzymes (RE) viz. HinfI, HaeIII, Alul, Sau3AI and Taql and three multilocus probes: 33.6,33.15 and R18.l were used for the study. The DFP analysis included both pooled and individual DNA of BC1 and parental populations. Tail analysis (TA) was conducted by comparing the high and low pools for each trait, separlitely. Results of the DFP comparisons, indicated the utility of the REs in the order: Alul> HinfI> HaeIII> TaqI> Sau3AI, in generating polyil1orphic fingerprints in the said populations. The probe 33.15 was grossly unsuitable for DFP profiling purposes. The probes: 33.6 and R18.1 were suitable and equally efficient in raising polymorphic DNA profiles in combination with RE AluI. The TA conducted on the 5 recorded traits: 6-week body weight, 8-week body weight, abdominal fat weight, plasma triglyceride and VLDL, recorded significant intensity shifts of 4 to 6 variant DFP bands across the tails for eaeh of the traits studied. The study concluded that these variant DFP pattems were the putative DNA marker segments associated with above traits and warranted further studies.