Abstract

DNA polymorphism of 4 indigenous chicken ecotypes was assessed in Jordan using random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) markers. 10 RAPD markers showed high genetic diversity values in the 4 ecotypes located in the northern, eastern, western and southern provinces of Jordan. The effective number of alleles per locus ranged from 1.47 to 1.7 (mean 1.65). The expected heterozygosity varied from 0.28 to 0.41 (mean 0.39) and Shannon’s index from 0.42 to 0.60 (mean 0.58). The Western ecotype showed higher levels of effective allele number, expected heterozygosity and Shannon’s index than the others. The genetic similarity between the northern, eastern and western ecotypes ranged from 0.95 to 0.97, while it ranged from 0.69 to 0.85 between the southern ecotype and the others. The largest genetic distance was found between the northern and southern ecotypes (0.37), whereas the smallest (0.04) was between the northern and eastern ecotypes, the southern ecotype was found to be the most genetically distant among all ecotypes. The study revealed that RAPD markers were effective in detecting genetic diversity in the chicken ecotypes. These results may prove to be valuable for the future conservation of genetic resources of indigenous chicken ecotypes in Jordan.

Key words: Polymorphism, conservation, allele numbers, genetic distance, RAPD markers.