EFFICACY OF MICROSATELLITE MARKER FOR GENETIC STUDIES ON GUINEA FOWL IN NIGERIA

Abstract

A study was carried out to evaluate efficacy of 31 sets of microsatellite marker developed for helmeted guinea fowl (Numida meleagris galeata pallas). A total of 200 randomly sampled indigenous guinea fowl strains namely; lavender (ash), gray breasted (white breasted), pearl, black and broiler guinea fowl comprising 40 per strain from north western Nigeria were used for the study. Two milliliters of blood was obtained from each bird and analyzed using multiplex PCR optimized from different conditions and adjustments. The bands on the electropherogramme were analysed and scored using the image labTM and result was used to compute Polymorphism Information Content (PIC). The Result showed that the markers were lowly (PIC<0.25) polymorphic in Ash, moderate (0.50 > PIC > 0.25) in Pearl while highly (PIC>0.5) polymorphic in Broiler, Black and white breasted guinea fowl. This research shows that the markers can be used for molecular genetic studies and conservation programmes in Nigeria.