GENETIC STRUCTURE AND BOTTLENECK EXPLORING OF SINAI CHICKENS INDIGENOUS TO EGYPT

Abou-Elewa, Eman Metwally; Soltan, Mohamed; Farrag, Sami A.; Enab, Ahmad Abd El Wahab

GENETIC STRUCTURE AND BOTTLENECK EXPLORING OF SINAI CHICKENS INDIGENOUS TO EGYPT

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

¹ Poulty and fishes department- Agriculture Faculty- Minoufia University.

² Poult. and Fish Prod. Dept., Fac. of Agric., Menoufia Univ., 32511, Shebin El-Kom, Egypt.

³ Poultry and Fish Production Department, Faculty of Agriculture, Menoufia University, Shebin El-Kom, Egypt

Abstract

Current research aimed to characterize Sinai chickens genetically by using nine microsatellite genetic marckers. Twenty-eight birds used in the study were randomly collected (12 males + 16 females). Sinai chickens are a mongrel fowl raised by dwellers and farmers in Sinai Peninsula desert areas and chiefly habituated and adapted to fluctuating circumstances in this region. This strain has a small body size, golden neck feather, brown or golden saddle and brown or black feathered tail for males, while females had golden feathered body with some black feathers in tail and neck, red single comb and they have variable plumage color. Nine microsatellites used produced 53 alleles with mean value of 5.88 allel/locus. Averages of observed and expected heterozygosity were 0.174 and 0.773, respectively. Informative content revealed was high overall loci ranging between 0.608 and 0.811 with average value of 0.718. Six out of 9 loci (66.66%) were not in genetic equaliprium. Bottleneck analysis revealed that, under graphical and SMM model analysis, Sinai chickens non-bottlenecked in recent past history. Results insured that, the utilized panel of markers showed their efficiency capturing genetic characteristics of Sinai chickens reflecting the valuable genetic variation in the studied population, enabling future genetic improvement for this strain avoiding inbreeding.

Keywords