Haemoglobin Polymorphisms in the Nigerian Indigenous Chickens

Haemoglobin (Hb) alleles and their frequencies as well their effect of some phenotypic characteristics were studied in local (LB) and Exotic Birds (EB) (Meat-type strain). Blood samples were collect from the local birds and exotic birds. The local birds were from reputable commercial farm. Blood samples were analyzed for haemoglobin types determined by cellulose acetate electrophoresis. The result showed that Hb genotypes were the same for exotic birds (AA) and also the phenotype characteristics studied were uniform but the local birds varied in Hb type and phenotype characteristics. The frequencies of HbA and HbA in local birds were 0.68 and 0.33, respectively and genotype frequencies HbAA (0.35) and Hb AB (0.65) and frequencies of HbA in exotic bird was 1.00 with genotype frequency of 100%. The local birds population was found to be in Hardy-Weinberg s equilibrium while the exotic birds were not. This suggests that the sample was a mixture of subpopulations with different gene frequencies. The relations among the investigated genotypes, plumage and shank colors were discussed..