Genetic analysis of an F2 intercross between two strains of Japanese quail provided evidence for quantitative trait loci affecting carcass composition and internal organs.

The purpose of this study was to identify genomic regions, quantitative trait loci (QTL), affecting carcass traits on chromosome 1 in an F2 population of Japanese quail. For this purpose, two white and wild strains of Japanese quail (16 birds) were crossed reciprocally and F1 generation (34 birds) was created. The F2 generation was produced by intercrossing of the F1 birds.

Fattening performance of purebred and crossbred lambs from fat-tailed Kurdi ewes mated to four Iranian native ram breeds.

A crossbreeding experiment was carried out to determine the sire breed effects on fattening performance of fat-tailed lambs. Rams from four Iranian fat-tailed sheep breeds, namely Kurdi (K), Afshari (A), Chaal (C) and Sanjabi (S) were mated to Kurdi ewes producing 454 progeny of four genotype groups (KK, AK, CK and SK). A total of 80 lambs comprising ten female and ten male lambs from each genotype group were used in a fattening experiment during a period of 88 days.

Mutations in bone morphogenetic protein 15 and growth differentiation factor 9 genes are associated with increased litter size in fat-tailed sheep breeds.

The objective of this study was to investigate association between GDF9 and BMP15 gene polymorphism and litter size in fat-tailed sheep, a total of 97 mature ewes from four breeds (Afshari=19; Baluchi=18; Makui=30 and Mehraban=30) were genotyped for the BMP15 HinfI and GDF9 HhaI polymorphisms by PCR-RFLP technique. The highest and lowest mutant allele frequencies were found in Makui (0.27) and Afshari (0.