Abstract
Problem statement: Gohilwari breed of goat is a multipurpose goat mainly for milk and meat purposes and best suited in its harsh climatic condition. This breed is inadequately characterized till now at DNA level. So the present study was undertaken for population genetic analysis at molecular level to exploit the breed for planning sustainable improvement, conservation and utilization, which subsequently can improve the livelihood of its stake holders. Approach: The experiment was conducted on 50 genomic DNA samples of unrelated goat using 25 microsatellite markers selected from the list suggested by International Society for Animal Genetics (ISAG) and FAO’s (DAD-IS). Results: All of the 25 microsatellites were well amplified. The observed number of alleles detected per locus ranged from 4-24 with an overall mean of 10.12±5.46. Overall mean observed heterozygosity of 0.505 was lower than the overall mean expected heterozygosity of 0.684. Most of the loci showed the heterozygote deficit as also depicted by Fis value. There was substantial genetic variation and polymorphism across studied loci in the Gohilwari breed of goat. And this population was not in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium at most of the studied loci. This population was also receiving new genetic materials through introduction of immigrants. Conclusion: The strong inference that the Gohilwari breed of goat has not undergone bottleneck is also important for goat breeders and conservationists, as it suggests that any unique alleles present in this breed may not have been lost. Therefore, it can be recommended that within-breed diversity is actively maintained to enable these extensively unmanaged stocks to adapt to future demands and conditions and there is ample scope for further improvement in its productivity through appropriate breeding strategies. Though, microsatellites are neutral to selection with Ewens-Watterson test for neutrality some microsatellites were found not neutral or linked to some selective trait that must be further investigated for association to selective traits.
Highlights
Gohilwari breed of goat is a multipurpose goat mainly reared by the Maldharis (Bharwar and Rabbari communities) for milk and meat purposes
Microsatellites in particular are useful in conservation genetics because the high degree of polymorphism makes them extremely informative and gives them very high discriminating
All measures of genetic variation: observed number of alleles, effective number of alleles, Shannon’s Information Index and Polymorphic Information Content (PIC) values showed that most of the studied loci were highly informative, indicating high polymorphism across the loci, suggesting suitability of these markers for genetic diversity studies in goats. Suitability of these studied markers was further strengthened as the number of alleles for each marker was higher, than the minimum number of four alleles recommended for microsatellite markers to be used in the estimation of genetic distance[41] in order to reduce the standard error
Summary
Gohilwari breed of goat is a multipurpose goat mainly reared by the Maldharis (Bharwar and Rabbari communities) for milk and meat purposes. The breed derived its name from the Gohilwad, which was a part of the Kathiawar region and was the old name of Bhavnagar district of Gujarat state of India. The animals of this goat breed are mainly found in Junagarh, Amrelli and Bhavnagar districts and to other adjacent districts of Gujarat. The goats are best fit under the harsh climate conditions of this region. In spite of their ecological and economic importance, the Gohilwari goats are inadequately characterized at DNA level. Microsatellites in particular are useful in conservation genetics because the high degree of polymorphism makes them extremely informative and gives them very high discriminating
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