A homogenous nature of native Chinese duck matrilineal pool

Background: China, with around 30 unique breeds, has a diverse duck genetic pool. Currently, there is no systematic report which investigates the genetic diversity, phylogenetic relationship, and matrilineal genetic structure of these domestic breeds and

We thank the reviewers for helpful comments during the revision of the manuscript and Ms. Aleah Smith for help in editing the language. This work was financially supported by Chinese national key technologies R & D programme (Grant No: 2006BAD14B06), the