author(s)
Pratibha Padwar and MS Thakur

abstract
The present study was undertaken to explore polymorphism of Melatonin (MTNR1C) gene and its association with quantitative traits such as age at first egg (AFE), body weight at sexual maturity (BWSM), body weight at 20 (BW20), 30 (BW30) and 40 (BW40) weeks of age, egg production at 40 weeks of age (EP40), egg weight at 40 (EW40) weeks of age in Jabalpur colour and Kadaknath birds. Total of 30 birds of each Kadaknath and Jabalpur colour were included in the study. The RFLP pattern for MTNR1C/MboI yielded monomorphic fragment of 372 bp (i.e. AA genotype) in all the birds of Kadaknath and Jabalpur colour. The results of analysis of variance showed highly significant differences among breeds, whereas the effect of genotypes and breed x genotype was found to be non significant. The means for AFE, BWSM, BW20, BW30, EW40 and EP40 were significantly (p<0.05) higher in Jabalpur colour as compared to Kadaknath birds.