Li, J., Yuan, Q., Shen, J., Tao, Z., Li, G., Tian, Y., Wang, D., Chen, L. and Lu, L. 2012. Evaluation of the genetic diversity and population structure of five indigenous and one introduced Chinese goose breeds using microsatellite markers. Can. J. Anim. Sci. 92: 417-423. The aim of this study was to determine the genetic diversity and evolutionary relationships among five indigenous Chinese goose breeds and one introduced goose breed using 29 microsatellite markers. A total of 334 distinct alleles were observed across the six breeds, and 45 of the 334 alleles (13.5%) were unique to only one breed. The indigenous geese showed higher diversity in terms of the observed number of alleles per locus (4.48-5.90) and observed heterozygosity (0.46-0.53) compared with the introduced breed (3.97 and 0.29, respectively). The pairwise genetic differentiation (F_ST) between the six goose breeds ranged from 0.04 between Panshi Grey goose (PS) and Yongkang Grey goose to 0.47 between PS and Landes goose; similarly, Nei's genetic distance varied between 0.25 and 0.75. However, the F_ST between the indigenous Chinese goose breeds was very small. In addition, genetic distance estimate, phylogenic, and cluster analyses of the genetic relationships and population structure revealed that some indigenous goose breeds had hybridized more frequently, resulting in a loss of genetic distinctiveness.