Correlation Analysis of CXCL10, FOS, HOXC13, and WNT4 Gene Polymorphisms with Key Economic Traits—Initial Population Screening for Jiangnan Cashmere Goats

<b>Background/Objectives</b>: The Jiangnan cashmere goat is a newly developed national cashmere goat breed in China, and the genetic stability of its traits is the core of breeding work. <b>Methods</b>: This study used 353 Jiangnan cashmere goats as research subjects. Descriptive statistics were performed on the key economic traits of the experimental population. Polymorphisms in the <i>CXCL10</i>, <i>FOS</i>, <i>HOXC13</i>, and <i>WNT4</i> genes were detected using multiplex PCR. The correlation between single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) loci and key economic traits was analyzed using the least squares variance method in SAS 9.4 software. <b>Results</b>: A total of 14 SNP loci were detected in the four genes, of which 5 were in the <i>CXCL10</i> gene. Three SNPs were detected in the <i>FOS</i>, <i>HOXC13</i>, and <i>WNT4</i> genes. SNP3, SNP4, SNP6, SNP10, SNP11, SNP12, SNP13, and SNP14 were in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium. The results of the correlation analysis showed that SNP9 of the <i>HOXC13</i> gene was significantly correlated with birth weight (BW) and mean fiber diameter (MFD), SNP10 of the <i>HOXC13</i> gene was significantly correlated with yearling weight (YW), and SNP14 of the <i>WNT4</i> gene was significantly correlated with birth weight (BW) (<i>p</i> < 0.05). <b>Conclusions</b>: The results of this study provide molecular markers for cashmere goat breeding and an experimental basis for accelerating the cultivation of new strains, which is conducive to further optimizing the economic traits of the Jiangnan cashmere goat and ensuring the stable inheritance of its economic traits through molecular breeding.