Sex Identification Based on Molecular Marker of Chdz and Chdw Gene in Some Species of Indonesian Birds

Birds usually have monomorphic properties, especially the young ones that are difficult to identify their sex based on morphological characteristic. The male birds have two identical sex chromosomes (ZZ), whereas females are heterogametic (ZW), the development of a DNA-based sexing method order widely investigated in several species. In this work, two orders were examined for sex determination, Passeriformes and Psittaciformes. Genomic DNA was isolated from the thirteen feather samples. The amplification of the CHD gene was performed with P2 and P8 sets of universal primers for DNA sexing. The result of this study showed that the target DNA bands were formed in all samples, ranging from 365 bp to 500 bp by DNA electrophoresis using agarose 2%. The single band indicated male and the double bands indicated female with varying DNA fragments thickness. The results of current study indicated both P2 and P8 primers provided reliable results, although few individuals showed the less prominent band.