Interactions Between Non-Allelic Loci and Their Effects on Categorized Meat Performance Traits in Ducks

ABSTRACT Traits associated with meat performance are characterized by a complex inheritance model, including the effects of non-allelic interactions. The aim of this study was to estimate the significance of non-allelic interactions between pairs of loci in each of two alternative groups based on four important performance traits of ducks: body weight (BW), carcass yield calculated as the ratio of carcass weight to body weight (CY), breast and leg muscle yield as a fraction of carcass weight (BL-CW), and skin weight and abdominal fat, again as a fraction of carcass weight (SF-CW). The experimental material was based on an F2 cross between two parental lines: A-55 (Polish Peking) and GL-30 (French Peking). In total, 368 individuals were recorded. All of the birds (including parents and F1) were genotyped for 23 polymorphic microsatellite loci. Entropy was taken as a measure of interaction between pairs of loci, and the chi-square test was used to verify significance. In total, 253 pairs of loci were analyzed in both categories of each of the four traits. Statistically significant interactions were obtained for each trait. However, it was observed that some of the loci showed a greater tendency to have significant opposite interactions for alternative categories of the same trait. The results indicate the dependence of the recombination rate within pairs of loci on the level of each of the four traits.