The genetic diversity of four protected indigenous chicken breeds was evaluated with 25 microsatellite markers. Polymorphism information content (PIC), heterozygosity with the estimator of genetic differentiation FST and Nei’s genetic distance were evaluated. The results showed that these four protected local chicken populations showed high levels of diversity. The proportion of inter-population subdivision among the four protected local chicken populations was 16.0%. The average heterozygosity was 0.514, 0.581, 0.567 and 0.589 in Dongan, Xuef...