Abstract
Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) hypervariable region 1 ( HV1) sequences of three Nigerian indigenous goat breeds; West African Dwarf (WAD), Red Sokoto (RS) and Sahel were used to investigate the genetic diversity and effect of selection between and among these populations. Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) of Nigerian indigenous chicken was extracted from blood samples collected and preserved on Fast Technology for Analysis (FTA) paper. The extracted DNA were amplified and sequenced with predefined mitochondria (mtDNA) primer sets for HV1. Eighty-seven (87) polymorphic sites were found in 115 sequences which were grouped into 92 haplotypes. The mean haplotypic and nucleotide diversity were found to be 0.996±0.002 and 0.092±0.04 respectively. Genetic variation within population and between populations accounted for 97.26% and 2.74% of the total maternal variation respectively, with FST value of 0.0274. The Tajima's (D) and Fu's (F) test of neutrality were significant (P<0.05) and negative with the mean value of -1.12 and -21.34 respectively which is an indication of population expansion. The result further revealed that the WAD and RS goats are closely related with less genetic distance value of 0.01, and high genetic distance value (0.02) was observed between RS and Sahel goats and WAD and Sahel goats. Selection analysis result shows that there is more positive selection site (6 sites) to negative site (5 sites) among the Nigerian goats, which signifies how diverse they are as well as how nature has being trying to confer genetic fitness to these breeds.
Highlights
Domestic goats (Capra hircus) were among the first domesticated animals adapted from the wild Capra aegargus at about 10,000 years ago (Sardina et al, 2006; Naderi et al, 2007) and studies have revealed that they were introduced into the African continent from Southwest Asia (Pereira et al, 2009)
A total of 115 goat blood samples were collected from three Nigerian indigenous goats (Sahel (S), n = 45, West African Dwarf (WAD), n = 34 and Red Sokoto (RS), n= 36) from three geographical zones of Nigeria
The lowest genetic diversity observed in WAD could be attributed to the fact that 90% of WAD goats in Nigeria are owned by smallholder rural goat keepers which are generally kept in small herds on mixed farms oSyntax Error (590939): No current point in closepath
Summary
Domestic goats (Capra hircus) were among the first domesticated animals adapted from the wild Capra aegargus at about 10,000 years ago (Sardina et al, 2006; Naderi et al, 2007) and studies have revealed that they were introduced into the African continent from Southwest Asia (Pereira et al, 2009). Dwarf which is confined to the humid forest belt, the relatively small sized Red Sokoto found in the semidesert and the long-legged Sahel found in the Savannah zone of the country (Adu and Brinckman, 1980). The Red Sokoto (a meat type animal) is characterized by its uniformly dark red coat colour, short and horizontal ear, and horns in both sexes (Adu and Brinckman, 1980) and among the most valuable of goat skins which commands a premium in the world market. The West African Dwarf (WAD) goats (a meat and milk type animal) resemble Red Sokoto goats in body proportions. The Sahel goat (meat, milk and skin type animal) has varying coat colours usually white pied with black or brown, long legs, and long and horizontal, but sometimes moderately long and pendulous ear. The horns are long, flat and twisted in the male, but sickle shaped in female (Devendra and Burns, 1983)
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