Fine Mapping of QTL for Carcass and Meat Quality Traits in a Chicken Slow-Growing Line

Abstract Text: A QTL detection was performed on birds originated from a slow-growing line selected by the SASSO breeding company since 1994. More precisely, 764 chicken and their parents (10 sires and 87 dams) were genotyped on the Illumina chicken SNP 60K Beadchip. Measures of body weight, breast meat yield, abdominal fat yield, leg yield, pH at 15 min and 24h post-slaughter, meat color (L), drip loss and intramuscular fat content were registered. Two methodologies of fine mapping were tested: a linkage disequilibrium (LD) analysis (EMMAX) and a linkage disequilibrium and linkage analysis (LDLA). With the two methodologies, we detected a significant QTL of early growth at a p-value of 5x10^-5on chromosome 24. We detected also significant QTL of breast meat yield on the chromosomes 17 and 18 and a QTL of pH at 15 min post-mortem on the chromosome 13.

Keywords: chicken, slow-growing line, QTL, carcass quality, meat quality