A) Scientific aims:
The aims of our project are to evaluate the genetic variation within and between studied breeds and strains of local chickens and the molecular characterization for these breeds and strains of chickens. The results of these study will make an important contribution to scholarship on the use of modern techniques for accurate assessment of agricultural animals and birds as belonging to a particular breed group not by their appearance (phenotype), but by genotype, which will serve as the scientific basis for further improvement of existing and creation of new breeds, crosses and lines of various animal species in Egypt. Furthermore, these fundamentally new information about the dynamics of the genetic structure of some breeds and strains of our native chickens is the basis for assessing the degree of genetic differentiation within and between selected groups of birds.
B) Social and National Aims:
- Improve the breeding programs situation of the local strains of chickens.
- If we will succeed to genetically describe a part of the local chicken genome, using molecular markers, this will help to improve poultry production (performance) by studying the relationships between typed DNA fingerprints and quantitative trait loci for some important economic traits in the studied breeds and strains.
