Evaluation of IGF-1 gene polymorphism and its association with carcass quality traits in Japanese quail

The aim of the present study was to perform a polymorphism evaluation of the gene 5 area of IGF-I in order to see whether there is any relationship between the gene and the features of quail’s carcass quality including the PH, the color of meat, the amount of water and fat stored inside the muscles of the Japanese quail. To this end, a total of 100 Japanese quails were reared under similar conditions; and then having been slaughtered at the age of 5 weeks, the carcass quality traits were measured and recorded. Moreover, before slaughtering was done, the blood of the sample birds was tested and the DNA was extracted using a diatom kit. Then, using PCR-RFLP method and the sectorial Enzyme PST-I, the segment no. 621 of the base pair was cut from this part of DNA to be multiplied. In general, having studied the quails, three genotypes of AA, AB and BB were acquired with the frequencies of 41, 35 and 24 percents, respectively. The allele frequencies of A and B were 58.5 and 41.5 percents, respectively. Investigating Hardy Wineberg’s equilibrium with the use of Chi-square test showed that the analyzed sample population is not at equilibrium at its true gene position. The Phenotypic analysis showed that there is a significant relationship between the genotypes of the gene IGF-I at its specified position and the lipid traits inside the muscle. Based on the results of the study, the conclusion is that the gene IGF-I can be used as the candidate gene for carcass quality traits in programs to amend and modify the species of the Japanese quail.