The shear force value is one of the major traits that determine meat quality. In the present study, we performed QTL analysis for chicken breast muscle shear force value at 7 wk of age using 545 single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers developed via restriction-site associated DNA sequencing (RAD-seq). An F2 resource family was generated by mating Oh-Shamo, a native Japanese chicken breed, and the White Plymouth Rock chicken breed. A total of 215 F2 birds were produced. Simple interval mapping revealed one significant main-effect QTL between 6.28 and 8.10 Mb SNPs on the chromosome Z with a logarithm of odds score of 5.53 at the genome-wide 5% level. At this QTL, the confidence interval, phenotypic variance explained, and additive effect were 26 cM, 12.24%, and -0.31 in males and -0.34 in females, respectively. No QTL with epistatic interaction effects were detected. To our knowledge, this is the first report on a QTL affecting the shear force value in the chicken breast muscle, using SNP markers derived from RAD-seq.
Animals Biomechanical Phenomena