This website is to keep lovebird breeders all over the world informed of the progress of the Agapornis genome study.
The study was part of a PhD degree by Dr Henriëtte van der Zwan at the North-West University in Potchefstroom, South Africa, that looked at the genetic make-up of lovebirds and to develop genetic screening tests for all lovebird species.
In 2018 we sequenced, assembled and annotated the complete genome of A. roseicollis. This gave us the backbone from which to develop further tests.
In 2019 we identified genetic markers, called SNPs, that can be used to identify an individual as well as its parents or family members. This test is similar to the test used to determine paternity in humans and other animals. This test will allow breeders, buyers or sellers to test a bird for its parentage (mother and father) before a sale is made. Therefore, if you are interested in buying a split, you can be sure that the parents of the bird are indeed who the seller says they are. This gives the buyer a higher degree of certainty that the bird may be a split.
For more information on the research we conducted, please see the Published articles page.