Paired-like homeodomain transcription factor 1 (PITX1) plays an important role in pituitary development by indirectly regulating the expression of the GH and PRL genes, and therefore PITX1 gene is regarded as a potential candidate gene for building the relationship between the gene polymorphism and milk traits. The aim of this study was to explore the novel genetic variant in PITX1 gene and its effect on milk performance in dairy goats. Herein, a novel genetic variation (NW_00314033:g.201G>A or IVS1+41G>A) located at nt41 position of the first intron of the goat PITX1 gene was reported at the P1 locus, which can be genotyped by the Msp I PCR-RFLP. In the Msp I PCR-RFLP analyis, the GG variant was a major genotype, and the A variant was a minor allele in Guanzhong dairy goats which was at Hardy-Weinberg disequilibrium (chi-squareχ2=140, P