CHICKEN GROWTH HORMONE GENE POLYMORPHISM OF SELECTED CHICKEN BREEDS IN NIGERIA

Résumé

The study was carried out to investigate polymorphism at the chicken growth hormone gene of selected chicken breeds (Fulani ecotype, Noiler, FUNAAB Alpha, Frizzled feathered and Cobb 500) in Nigeria. Genomic DNA was extracted from blood samples collected from 49 birds. Amplification of specific DNA fragments at intron 3 of the cGH gene yielded a product size of 715bp and this was used to analyze for polymorphism using Polymerase Chain Reaction-Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) technique. Banding patterns of the gene investigated, revealed the occurrence of three RFLP variants: TT, CT and CC with genotype frequencies of 0.449, 0.245 and 0.306, respectively. The allele frequencies of the T and C alleles were 0.469 and 0.531, respectively indicating that the C allele was predominant. Chi-square test revealed that the chicken population investigated was in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium. It was concluded that, the presence of observed genetic variations in the chicken growth hormone gene, could be exploited because of its association with economically important traits.