2009/10/02 by R. Tadano, Masahide Nishibori, Masaoki Tsudzuki · 2 citations
Agricultural and Biological Sciences · Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · #Livestock and Poultry Management #Genetic and phenotypic traits in livestock #Animal Nutrition and Physiology
paper · doi:10.1111/j.1365-2052.2009.01955.x
openalex publication_date 2009/10/02 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/06/22
The Onagadori is a distinguished chicken breed that is characterized by an extremely long tail in the male. In this breed, three different plumage colour varieties have been developed (black-breasted white, black-breasted red and white) in which the black-breasted white is believed to be the original colour of the Onagadori, based on historical records. To establish a conservation strategy, 176 birds were genotyped for autosomal microsatellites. Significant genetic distinctness was found between the original (black-breasted white) and two derivative varieties (F(ST) = 0.091 and 0.093). At the same time, a Bayesian model-based clustering revealed that the majority of individuals belonging to the black-breasted red and white varieties had an extremely low proportion of the genome shared with the original type (black-breasted white). This suggests that derivative varieties were created by crossing with other breeds, with low introgression of the original-type genome. We propose that the three plumage colour varieties should be treated as separate genetic units in a conservation programme.