The objective of this research was to detect bovine GDF10 gene polymorphism and analyze its association with body measurement traits (BMT) of animals sampled from 6 different Chinese indigenous c.attle populations.The populations included Xuelong(Xl), Luxi(Lx), Qinchuan(Qc), Jiaxian red(Jx), Xia nan(Xn) and Nanyang(Ny).Blood samples were taken from a total of 417 female animals stratified into age categories of 12 months to 36 months.Polymerase chain reaction-single strand conformation polymorphism (PCR-SSCP) was employed to find out GDF10 single polymorphism nucleotide (SNPs) and explore their possible association with BMT.Sequence analysis of GDF10gene revealed 3 SNPs in total: 1 in exonl (G142A) and 2 in exon3 (A11471G, and T12495C).G142A SNP is a synonymous mutation.It showed 2 genotypes namely GG and GA.The mutant allele A was absent in the Nanyang cattle population.The X2 test showed that genotypic distributions in all the populations involved agreed with the Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium.Analysis of association of polymorphism with body measurement traits at G142A locus showed that there were significant effects on Hip Width (HW), Chest Depth(CD), (P<0.01) and Chest Circurnference(CC) (P<0.05) in the Jx cattle population.GG genotype had the higher mean value for all the traits involved and might be the favorable genotype.A11471G SNP is a missense mutation leading to the change of Alanine to Threonine amino acid.It showed three genotypes namely AA, BB and AB.The X2 test showed that except X1 population,genotypic distributions in all the other populations involved agreed with Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium.Least Squares Analysis revealed that different genotypes had significant effects on Body Length (BL),Body Height (BH), Rump Length (RL), Hip Width (HW) and Chest Circumference (CC) in Qx cattle population.In Jx cattle population, the traits involved are Body Length (BL), Body Height (BH), Hip Height (HH), Chest Depth (CD) and Chest Circumference (CC).In Ny cattle population, Body Length(BL) and Hip Height (HH) were found to be significantly different between different genotypes.In most of the cases the AB genotype had the highest mean value and might be the beneficial genotype.T12495C SNP is a synonymous mutation.It showed two genotypes namely PP and BP.The X2test showed that genotypic distributions in all the populations involved agreed with Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium.Analysis of association of polymorphism with body measurement traits at the locus showed that there were significant effects on Body Length (BL), Body Height (BH) and Hip Height(HH), (P<0.05) in the Qc cattle population.PB had the higher mean value for all the traits involved and might be the favorable genotype.These results suggest that the GDF10 gene might have potential effects on body measurement traits in the above mentioned cattle populations and could be used for marker-assisted selection.