Studies on genetic variation of different Chinese duck populations with random amplified polymorphic DNA analysis

Abstract

The genetic polymorphism and relationships of Muscovy, Cherry Valley Meat ducks, Partridge ducks and their crossbreds F1 and F2, respectively, were studied using a random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) technique. The results showed that RAPD markers were effective for the analysis of genetic relationships among ducks. Amplification with 20-primers gave 760 reproducible amplified fragments. The percentage of polymorphic marker band was 74.70%, which indicates that the RAPD technique had higher efficiency of polymorphism detection and sensitivity in studying the genetic variations among ducks and showed that the genetic polymorphism was abundant between two species of duck populations. The average index of genetic distance in hybrid F 2 was 0.2341 and higher than that of its parents, which indicates that the genetic diversity was improved by crossbreeding with Muscovy.