diff --git a/src/manipulation.js b/src/manipulation.js
index 49426dbe6..3031c4f73 100644
--- a/src/manipulation.js
+++ b/src/manipulation.js
@@ -104,12 +104,13 @@ function getAll( context, tag ) {
 
 // Manipulating tables requires a tbody
 function manipulationTarget( elem, content ) {
-	return jQuery.nodeName( elem, "table" ) &&
-		jQuery.nodeName( content.nodeType !== 11 ? content : content.firstChild, "tr" ) ?
+	if ( jQuery.nodeName( elem, "table" ) &&
+		jQuery.nodeName( content.nodeType !== 11 ? content : content.firstChild, "tr" ) ) {
 
-		elem.getElementsByTagName("tbody")[0] ||
-			elem.appendChild( elem.ownerDocument.createElement("tbody") ) :
-		elem;
+		return elem.getElementsByTagName( "tbody" )[ 0 ] || elem;
+	}
+
+	return elem;
 }
 
 // Replace/restore the type attribute of script elements for safe DOM manipulation
diff --git a/test/unit/manipulation.js b/test/unit/manipulation.js
index 9ea53b8ab..d9e9e40b3 100644
--- a/test/unit/manipulation.js
+++ b/test/unit/manipulation.js
@@ -2485,6 +2485,81 @@ test( "Make sure jQuery.fn.remove can work on elements in documentFragment", 1,
 	equal( fragment.childNodes.length, 0, "div element was removed from documentFragment" );
 });
 
+test( "Make sure tr element will be appended to tbody element of table when present", function() {
+	expect( 1 );
+
+	var html,
+		table = document.createElement( "table" );
+
+	table.appendChild( document.createElement( "tbody" ) );
+	document.getElementById( "qunit-fixture" ).appendChild( table );
+
+	jQuery( table ).append( "<tr><td>test</td></tr>" );
+
+	// Lowercase and replace spaces to remove possible browser inconsistencies
+	html = table.innerHTML.toLowerCase().replace( /\s/g, "" );
+
+	strictEqual( html, "<tbody><tr><td>test</td></tr></tbody>" );
+});
+
+test( "Make sure tr elements will be appended to tbody element of table when present", function() {
+	expect( 1 );
+
+	var html,
+		table = document.createElement( "table" );
+
+	table.appendChild( document.createElement( "tbody" ) );
+	document.getElementById( "qunit-fixture" ).appendChild( table );
+
+	jQuery( table ).append( "<tr><td>1</td></tr><tr><td>2</td></tr>" );
+
+	// Lowercase and replace spaces to remove possible browser inconsistencies
+	html = table.innerHTML.toLowerCase().replace( /\s/g, "" );
+
+	strictEqual( html, "<tbody><tr><td>1</td></tr><tr><td>2</td></tr></tbody>" );
+});
+
+test( "Make sure tfoot element will not be appended to tbody element of table when present", function() {
+	expect( 1 );
+
+	var html,
+		table = document.createElement( "table" );
+
+	table.appendChild( document.createElement( "tbody" ) );
+	document.getElementById( "qunit-fixture" ).appendChild( table );
+
+	jQuery( table ).append( "<tfoot/>" );
+
+	// Lowercase and replace spaces to remove possible browser inconsistencies
+	html = table.innerHTML.toLowerCase().replace( /\s/g, "" );
+
+	strictEqual( html, "<tbody></tbody><tfoot></tfoot>" );
+});
+
+test( "Make sure document fragment will be appended to tbody element of table when present", function() {
+	expect( 1 );
+
+	var html,
+		fragment = document.createDocumentFragment(),
+		table = document.createElement( "table" ),
+		tr = document.createElement( "tr" ),
+		td = document.createElement( "td" );
+
+	table.appendChild( document.createElement( "tbody" ) );
+	document.getElementById( "qunit-fixture" ).appendChild( table );
+
+	fragment.appendChild( tr );
+	tr.appendChild( td );
+	td.innerHTML = "test";
+
+	jQuery( table ).append( fragment );
+
+	// Lowercase and replace spaces to remove possible browser inconsistencies
+	html = table.innerHTML.toLowerCase().replace( /\s/g, "" );
+
+	strictEqual( html, "<tbody><tr><td>test</td></tr></tbody>" );
+});
+
 test( "Make sure col element is appended correctly", function() {
 	expect( 1 );