Association of Microsatellites with Growth and Immunocompetence Traits in Crossbred Layer Chicken

The present investigation was carried out on six crossbred chicken populations to estimate variability of microsatellites and their association with growth and other traits. Five microsatellite markers located on chromosome 1, 2, 5 and 10 were screened and association study was performed following general linear model technique. All the microsatellites were polymorphic showing three to six alleles. The polymorphic information content (PIC) of the markers was more than 0.536. Genotype and allelic frequency was estimated showing a large variability from microsatellite to microsatellite. The genotypes of MCW007 microsatellite were found to be significantly (P<0.05) associated with body weight at day old, 8th, 12th, 20th, 28th and 40th week of age. A significant association between ADL020 microsatellite and body weight at 8th, 12th and 40th week of age was estimated at P<0.05 in different crossbred chicken populations. ADL176 genotypes were observed to be significantly associated with body weight at 40 weeks of age. MCW007, ADL020, ADL023 and ADL176 microsatellites were found to be significantly correlated with age at sexual maturity whereas humoral immune response to sheep RBC were observed to be non-significantly associated with the microsatellites