Molecular Analysis of SNPs and Their Association with Body Weight and Morphometric Traits in West African Ducks

ABSTRACT This study aimed to identify key morphometric predictors of body weight in local ducks and assess their genetic diversity to inform breeding programs in southeastern Nigeria. A total of 200 ducks (100 from each of the states of Abia and Imo) were measured for 10 morphometric traits to evaluate their relationship with body weight. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) revealed five distinct clusters within the duck population, with Cluster 1 showing the lowest and Cluster 5 the highest average body weights. Hierarchical clustering corroborated these groupings. Correlation analysis identified body circumference (BDC) as the most reliable predictor of body weight (r=0.76). Gender-specific trends were also observed: shank length (SHL) had a positive correlation with females (r=0.65), while neck length (NKL) was more strongly correlated with males (r=0.72). The strongest overall correlation was between body weight and body circumference, modelled by the equation BDW = 2401.41 + 122.04 × BDC (R²=0.84, r=0.91). For genetic diversity assessment, 40 blood samples (20 from each state) were collected from randomly selected, unrelated ducks. DNA was extracted, amplified using PCR, and sequenced, revealing two single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs): C→A and A→G substitutions. This led to the identification of two homozygous (CC, AA) and two heterozygous (CA, AG) genotypes, along with four haplotypes and 133 polymorphic sites. The haplotype diversity was 1.000, and nucleotide diversity averaged 0.606%. These findings demonstrate that integrating morphometric and molecular analyses provides a robust framework for characterizing local duck populations. This dual approach supports the development of informed breeding strategies to enhance productivity, particularly in resource-limited settings.