As a critical candidate gene of poultry broodiness, intron 12 of the vasoactive intestinal peptide\|1(VIPR\|1) gene of black muscovy ducks was analyzed by PCR\|RFLP. The results indicated that there was a site of AfaⅠ digestion within intron 12 of VIPR\|1 gene. An C→T mutation at the site 902 bp of this gene was detected by DNA sequencing which produced three sorts of genotypes CC, TT and CT, and showed genotype frequencies of CC(18), TT(40) and CT(18) in brooding black muscovy ducks, rather than CC(32), TT(40) and CT(42) in laying black muscovy ducks. By chi\|square test, there were significantly differences (P<005) between broodiness black muscovy ducks and laying black muscovy ducks in genotypes. This indicated that C902T mutation in intron 12 of VIPR\|1 gene was significantly associated with broodiness of black muscovy ducks.