Association between Insulin Like Growth Factor-1 (IGF-1) gene polymorphism and carcass traits in improved Nigerian indigenous chickens

Abstract

The insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF1) is a key regulator of muscle development and metabolism in birds and other vertebrate. Our objective was to determine the association between IGF1 gene polymorphism and carcass traits in FUNAAB Alpha chicken. Genomic DNA was extracted from the blood of 50 normal feathered birds. At 10 weeks, the birds were slaughtered for carcass traits. Specific primers for chicken IGF1 were used for amplification of a 622 base segment. The amplified gene products were digested with Hinf1 restriction enzyme and the digested fragments were genotyped. Allele frequencies were 52% and 48% for A and B, respectively. Genotype frequencies were 27%, 50% and 23% for AA, AB and BB genotypes, respectively. All carcass traits values and the IGF1 gene polymorphism observed were subjected to analysis of variance and the mean were separated using Duncan Multiple Range Test. The results showed that the occurrence of the polymorphism did not affect all the carcass traits but AB genotypes had the highest carcass traits values than the AA and BB genotypes. The conclusion of this study demonstrated that IGF-1 gene, to some extent, could be a candidate gene that affects carcass traits in Improved Nigerian indigenous chicken.

Keywords: IGF-1, PCR-RFLP, indigenous chicken