Abstract
Aim:This study was conducted to study the genetic and population structure of local (Awassi) and exotic (Romanov, Charollais, Assaf, Awassi, and Suffolk) sheep breeds in Jordan using eight microsatellite markers.Materials and Methods:A total of 125 sheep were used (25 from each breed) in the study. The number of alleles (A), the mean values of observed (Ho) and expected (He) heterozygosity, polymorphism information content (PIC), fixation index as a measure of heterozygote deficiency or excess, and Hardy–Weinberg equilibrium (HWE) were analyzed using PopGen and CERVUS softwares. Nei’s standard genetic distances among breeds and dendrogram of unweighted pair group method with arithmetic mean (UPGMA) were calculated and constructed using PopGen software.Results:A total of 40 alleles were detected with an average number of alleles of 5. The mean Ho value was higher than the mean He value for all breeds. Awassi breed showed the highest average PIC value while Romanov had the lowest. There was a significant (p<0.05) deviation from HWE at each locus within and between breeds. Deviations from HWE were found to be highly significant for all markers except OARFCP304 locus. The genetic distance estimates revealed a close relationship between Romanov and Charollais and between Awassi and Charollais. In the UPGMA dendrogram, Charollais, Romanov, and Awassi breeds were placed together in one main cluster while Assaf was in a different subcluster. Awassi was placed alone in a second main cluster.Conclusion:Results of this study offer insight toward the genetic conservation of the studied breeds and a base on which breeding plans can be made.
Highlights
Sheep raising is considered an important source of livelihood in Jordan [1]
In the unweighted pair group method with arithmetic mean (UPGMA) dendrogram, Charollais, Romanov, and Awassi breeds were placed together in one main cluster while Assaf was in a different subcluster
The total numbers of alleles (A), Ho, He, polymorphism information content (PIC), and Hardy–Weinberg equilibrium (HWE) for each of the eight microsatellites used in this study are presented in Table-2
Summary
Sheep raising is considered an important source of livelihood in Jordan [1]. The local sheep breed Awassi is well adapted to the semi-arid conditions of Jordan and is considered the most common of all sheep breeds. It is known to resist many diseases and to produce modest amount of good quality meat and milk. Genetic improvement of Awassi has been practiced using selection and crossbreeding [2]. Several other imported breeds exist in Jordan such as Assaf, Suffolk, Romanov, and Charollais. Due to indiscriminate breeding practices, a great level of genetic diversity or lack off is expected among all sheep breeds in Jordan
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