Low Genetic Variability of Domestic Muscovy Duck (Cairina moschata) in China Revealed by Mitochondrial DNA Control Region Sequences

Abstract

Domestic Muscovy duck (Cairina moschata) is valued throughout the world for its unique taste, high yield of breast meat, and low caloric content. Eleven breeds are distributed worldwide in Latin America, the Caribbean, Europe, Pacific Asia, and Africa and are registered in the Domestic Animal Diversity Information System (Food and Agriculture Organization 2007). Domestic Muscovy ducks are thought to have been introduced from Mexico and Central and South America, where the wild Muscovy duck was likely first domesticated before the time of its introduction to China by European colonists (Chen 1988; Feng 1994). The history of Muscovy duck breeding in China has been reliably recorded for more than 250 years, and many relatively independent geographic populations have developed as a result of geographic isolation and artificial selection (Chen 1988). In comparison to detailed studies on the genetic structure of chickens (Liu et al. 2006) and ducks (Li et al. 2006; He et al. 2008b), the Muscovy duck genetic structure is still unclear. Stai and Hughes (2003) studied genetic diversity in wild and domestic Muscovy ducks from Paraguay, Brazil, and the USA using microsatellite markers and found that the domestic populations were clustered together with high probability. One Chinese domestic Muscovy duck population was also studied using the random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) method; it was proved to have low diversity (Su et al.