Morphological and genetic characterization of 13 Italian local chicken breeds

Submitted 2020-07-02 | Accepted 2020-09-03 | Available 2020-12-01 https://doi.org/10.15414/afz.2020. 23.mi-fpap.137-143 According to census accomplished in 2001, only 9% of Italian poultry breeds are still widespread. This project aims to describe morphological variability and genetic background among 13 Italian autochthonous chicken breeds, 10 from Northern Italy and 3 from Central Italy. An updated biometrical measurement protocol was established starting from phenotypic characterization guidelines released by FAO. Six traits were registered on each animal: live body weight (LBW), body length (BL), shank length (SL), shank width (SW), breast width (BW), and wingspan (WS). Moreover, all breeds were genotyped using the Affymetrix 600 K Chicken SNP Array, in order to evaluate genetic variability and population structure. Means of BL and BW showed low variability among breeds, with the lowest value in Pepoi (BL = 32.29 ± 1.57 cm and BW = 28.92 ± 1.93 cm), and maximum in Robusta Lionata for BL (46.79 ± 1.66 cm) and in Robusta Maculata for BW (42.33 ± 3.60 cm). On the contrary, average LBW varied notably among breeds, with the highest value for Robusta Maculata (♂ 4,221.7 ± 450.6 g; ♀ 2,831.7 ± 253.2 g) and the lowest values for Modenese males (1,695.0 ± 128.1 g) and Pepoi females (1,293.3 ± 219.2 g). The lowest observed heterozygosity (Ho) and expected heterozygosity (He) were obtained for Padovana Argentata (Ho: 0.151 ± 0.198; He: 0.146 ± 0.185) and the highest for Millefiori di Lonigo (Ho: 0.293 ± 0.199; He: 0.291 ± 0.178). Furthermore, multidimensional scaling plot showed clear genetic identity for each breed, with clusters formed according to geographical and historical origin of the breeds, which were confirmed in neighbor networks. 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