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Understanding
Growth Patterns and Genomics of the Guinea Fowl
S.
Nahashon, N. Adefope, A. Amenyenu, D. Wright, and I. Patterson-Brooks
Institute of Agricultural and Environmental Research
Seminar Series
Tennessee State University, Nashville, TN
April 28, 2004
Guinea fowl
production and demand as alternative poultry is gaining momentum around
the globe. However, profitability of guinea fowl production is hampered
by poor production and reproduction efficiencies due in part to lack of
management and feeding guidelines. Understanding growth patterns and
genomics of the guinea fowl will aid the formulation of management
schemes and feeding schedules that will improve their production and
reproduction efficiency. In the current report, the objectives were to:
(1) evaluate the growth patterns of the pearl grey guinea fowl, and (2)
assess the usefulness of chicken and quail microsatellite (tandem
repeats of short nucleotides) markers for possible utility in future
guinea fowl breeding programs. To meet objective 1, body weight (BW)
data for the pearl grey guinea fowl were collected from hatch to 22
weeks of age (WOA). Three nonlinear mathematical (NLM) functions
(Richards, Gompertz and Logistic) were employed to estimate growth
patterns of these birds. The shape parameter m were 0.74 and 0.72 in
males and females, respectively, suggesting that the growth pattern of
the pearl grey guinea fowl is neither Logistic nor Gompertz. Unlike
chicken, quail and duck the pearl grey guinea fowl does not exhibit
sexual dimorphism for their growth characteristics. From the Richards
model, the asymptotic BW, growth rate and age at maximum growth were 1.6
kg, 0.17 g/week and 5.8 weeks, respectively for both sexes. The inverse
relationship between the asymptotic BW and both relative growth and age
at maximum growth of the pearl grey guinea fowl is similar to that of
chickens, quail and ducks. To meet objective 2, primers for chicken and
quail microsatellite markers were tested for suitability as genetic
linkage markers in guinea fowl using the polymerase chain reaction.
Eighty three percent (30/36) and 73 percent (19/26) of chicken and quail
primers, respectively, amplified individual loci in guinea fowl. Fifty
percent (15/30) and 42 percent (8/19) of the amplified loci using
chicken and quail primers, respectively, were found to be polymorphic.
These very few chicken and quail microsatellite markers that seem to
work well in guinea fowl could be used as anchor points for comparative
mapping. However, more effort should be committed to developing guinea
fowl-specific markers since those of chickens and quail may not be
sufficient for studies in guinea fowl.
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