Genetic bottleneck studies in five duck (Anas platyrhynchos) populations of India

Abstract

The data of 24 microsatellite loci were generated for 4 indigenous duck populations and 1 commercial breed (Khakhi Campbell). The data were subjected to statistical analysis to test for heterozygosity excess or deficiency since any bottlenecked population would undergo transient heterozygosity excess. Three tests, viz. Sign-rank test, Standardised differences test and Wilcoxon test were utilised in each of the three models of mutations, IAM, SMM and TPM. SMM, which is the most suited model for evolution of microsatellites did not reveal any bottleneck in the last few generations. In our present study the heterozygosity excess is not evident in any of the 5 duck populations and thus the duck populations of India under study are in mutation drift equilibrium. The rejection of null hypothesis in the duck populations is attributed to heterozygotic deficiency.